Yahoo Autos Russell tops final Azerbaijan GP practice
George Russell beat Charles Leclerc to top spot in final practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Russell fired in a purple final sector on his way to a best time of 1m 42.514s, lowering the weekend benchmark by almost a second.
Russell’s lap came in the final two minutes of the session on five-lap-old soft tires, pipping Leclerc by 0.013s.
The time came despite the Briton complaining that “the ride feels terrible down the straight under braking” and after concerns of unusual power unit behavior on the brakes.
Mercedes undertook a precautionary power unit change for Russell car between Friday practice sessions.
Lando Norris completed the top three behind Leclerc and 0.223s off the pace for McLaren, making it three different teams in the top three positions.
He set his flying lap late to pip teammate Oscar Piastri by just 0.012s.
Max Verstappen was fifth fastest for Red Bull and 0.348s off the pace, the Dutchman climbing the order late thanks to a slipstream from teammate Sergio Perez in a bid to counteract his weekend-long struggles in the flat-out final sector.
Carlos Sainz was sixth after having what would have been his final flying lap disrupted by Sergio Perez at the super-fast Turn 15. A second attempt on the same set of tires brought him to sixth and 0.454s off the pace, getting himself ahead of the Mexican in seventh by 0.056s.
Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto impressed for Williams with eighth and ninth in the order, 0.68s and 0.724s off the pace respectively.
Lewis Hamilton finished an anonymous 10th and 0.787s adrift.
Aston Martin and RB competed for 11th, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.
Pierre Gasly was 15th ahead of sole Haas finisher Nico Hulkenberg, while Sauber teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were last among the drivers to have set times.
Esteban Ocon finished 19th without a time after suffering a power unit problem preparing for his first flying lap, forcing him to stop on track and walk away from his car.
Ocon also lost all of FP1 to an engine problem, necessitating a power unit change before FP2, which he also completed down in 19th place.
His stoppage, coming around a quarter of the way into the hour, suspended the session for nine minutes, though the intermittent drizzle at the time meant few cars were on track to have their programs disrupted.
Oliver Bearman, standing in for the suspended Kevin Magnussen, was classified last, also without a time, after smashing his Haas at the first turn.
Bearman carried too much speed into the corner but attempted too late to bail for the run-off zone, wiping off his front-left corner against the barriers before coming to a stop against the wall.
“I’m such an idiot,” he said before clambering from his car without a lap time set.
