F1 Free Practice 3, live today: Azerbaijan GP | Follow free training and qualification in Baku

This is the third free practice session of the Azerbaijan GP of F1 2024: Madness in Baku

This is the classification of Free practice 3 of the Azerbaijan F1 GP in Baku:

End of third free practice of Azerbaijan F1 GP in Baku. Russell led the session with his Mercedes with 13 thousandths of an advantage over one of the big favourites, Charles Leclerc, who had 3 pole positions in a row in Baku but no win. Norris, another of the favourites, is third with his McLaren at 0.223, followed by his teammate Oscar Piastri by just 2 thousandths, with Pérez slipstreaming, is 5th at 0.348 and Sainz, 1st 6 at 0.454 with Pérez in 7th place at 0.510. Hamilton hid in 10th position. These are the 8 cars that should aim for pole in a very close and tense qualy.

As the 5th best team, Williams, with Albon 8th at 0″680 and an excellent Francoi Colapinto at 0″724, half a tenth behind his teammate in his second F1 race. Alonso was 11th in his Aston Martin after a last-minute configuration change to conduct some final testing. Fernando will fight again to get to Q3 in a very tight middle zone.

‘Checo’ Pérez, trying to slipstream Max in that third sector where Verstappen’s lead seems to be lower. Verstappen was 5th.

There is a lot of equality and no one can predict who is sure to take the pole. Watch out because George Russell, with his Mercedes, has now set the best time on used tyres. So great is the mystery. It seems increasingly clear that there are up to 4 teams in the fight for pole: McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull. And also, with how much the track has improved, it’s very difficult to know the true speed of each.

Max Verstappenwith that new floor on his Red Bull, he could only place himself in third position at 0″300. Of course, with used tires. He keeps giving way in that third sector… so we’ll see how Verstappen does in Q3 with all available engines or if it’s a different configuration in his car to take the twisty sector first …

Charles Leclerc was first. He overtook Piastri by 0.185 and made it clear to McLaren that Ferrari had to be in contention for pole with Russell taking third by 0.439 on his second lap of rubber.

Qualifying is going to be crazy. It is a route that at some points is very narrow, with potholes, where it is easy to go against the wall or the holes, having to turn back. That raises a lot of yellow flags. And that means that in qualifying the madness is greater because any yellow or red flag or an error can complicate things for everyone on their laps.

George Russell went wide in turn 2 after locking tires and went through on the breakaway. You miss the first chance to make your simulation attempt with the new soft rubber and you try again next turn. Russell complained about the car’s behavior in potholes, which would cause it to stall.

There are 12 minutes left in the third free races of the F1 Azerbaijan GP. Mercedes is yet to set a time, but for now the provisional classification remains this way, with Piastri’s McLaren in front.

McLare is here again, who usually hides every Friday. They are the favorites this weekend along with Ferrari and even Red Bull due to their improvement on the new floor. And McLaren has made it clear that it’s at it again. Great time from Piastri. He put at least 6 tenths on Pérez and was in the lead.

‘CZECH’ PEREZ! He was placed in first position, surpassing Charles Leclerc by 66 thousandths. The king of the streets of Baku, with two wins (the most), wants to repeat here and end all the criticism he has accumulated this year. Red Bull has a new floor and the Milton Keynes cars are working better… but it’s remarkable to see that Verstappen is losing time in the last sector (on the straights) and Pérez, no…

Like yesterday… Verstappen sets the record in the second sector, but not in the third.

Alonso is back on track after this latest change of settings. You have 15 minutes to try. The moment where everyone attacks finding their time on soft tires.

Most representatives in the first half. Best horn of the weekend for Leclerc, who took first. Although Albon is a tenth away and this tells us that he still has a lot in store and that the times should still improve significantly.

Aston Martin mechanics work on the brake system of Fernando Alonso’s car. They are adjusting the brakes or maybe trying some adjustment changes. There are 19 minutes left in the session. Fernando must have wanted to try something different to get his car in order for qualifying.

This is the FP3 time table with 19 minutes to go, but now everyone will attack. Norris just set the time.

The session will continue, once again, in this FP3 full of delays. The drivers did very few laps on the soft to prepare for classification and draw conclusions. Small work, less than desired by all teams.

Red flag. The session stopped again. Oliver Bearman, who in this GP replaced Kevin Magnussen because he lost 12 points of his extra license, crashed into the wall while braking for Turn 1. Finally realizing that he was not entering the curve, he tried to abort that curve and left. through the hole, but it was too late.

He did not have time to turn and hit the obstacles with his left front wheel. If there’s one thing he shouldn’t do, it’s damage the car before qualifying… and he did. ‘rookie’ error. “I’m sorry,” Bearman said, knowing he had saved that touch.

According to the F1 report, Max Verstappen was one centimeter away from the wall. The pilots are starting to get closer and closer to the protections.

FP3 continues after Ocon’s problem and the drivers go for their first qualifying simulation on soft rubber.

What is the weekend for? Ocon and his Alpine. He had engine trouble on Friday, and this Saturday, his car had trouble again. The vehicle must stop. The engine sounds bad from ‘on board’.

It affects everyone, as some of the favorites are already doing their warm-up laps to go for their first qualifying simulation lap on the soft tires to fine-tune their cars for the ‘qualy’ this Saturday of afternoon They were left without making that test.

The dance begins. Norris, Sainz, Leclerc and Piastri start on soft rubber. Also the two Alpines, Verstappen and Bottas. The search for the ranking simulation begins.

Several times on the table in these first minutes. Waiting for the track to get better and better, but for this it is necessary for the cars to roll. So far, they’ve only done one turn Pérez, Zhou, Tsunoda, Bottas, Verstappen, Stroll, Alonso and Ricciardo. The rest, in the garage.

Fernando Alonso, testing the hard rubber ahead of this Sunday’s race. It is too early to perform a classification simulation. The dance with the tender will start a little later.

The third free practice of the F1 2024 Azerbaijan GP is about to begin! We can see a more realistic picture of everyone’s one-lap speed in the ‘qualy’ simulation. Everyone is looking to maximize their cars for today’s classification.

Here we remind you the records of Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 with the time tables and results so that you can consult everything that happened yesterday at the Azerbaijan GP of F1 2024:

Welcome to the Azerbaijan GP of F1 2024. Day two in Baku, where the third free practice session will be held and a classification that seems exciting, full of uncertainty and with many candidates for the pole.