F1 live: Final Azerbaijan GP practice as it happens
By: Sam Hall
Looking ahead to qualifying and it is possibly one of the most open sessions of the season with all of the top eight cars in contention.
Alex Kalinauckas 11:37:56 am
“How close the track is to all the city furniture here - there’s little walkways built for marshals, photographers and drivers minus their machines to get around.”
Speaking of surprises, with Albon and Colapinto in eighth and ninth, could Williams be in for a very rare double Q3 appearance?
Based on the weekend so far, it appears that qualifying - at least, the early stages in Q1 or Q2 - could be decided by yellow or red flags. Keep an eye out for a surprise or two.
On their final lap, Red Bull try the tow to pull Verstappen up the order, with the Dutchman climbing to fifth while Perez remains seventh.
Checkered flag 11:31:01 am
The chequered flag is out on practice. Next up, things get serious in qualifying.
Russell goes top in the closing seconds! Could Mercedes be in the picture after a shakey start to the weekend? A 1m42.514s is the marker, with Leclerc just 0.013 back.
Alex Kalinauckas 11:29:18 am
“There’s clear audio clue of how much a driver is trying to take grip from the tyres at Turn 4 - on push laps now with the softs they’re stamping on the gas much earlier in the corner trajectory. In the race on the hard compounds, that acceleration will come later and be much more gentle to minimise sliding and lessen the risk of tyre graining.”
Perez has caught the ire of Sainz there, failing to move off the line and impeding the Ferrari driver at one of the narrower points of the layout.
That's more like it from Norris, as he puts in a fully competitive effort for the first time this weekend to go second.
Five minutes remain as Verstappen goes third, three tenths off Leclerc.
Albon again moves up the order to fifth and should not be ruled out of a Q3 appearance this weekend to upset the established order.
Despite passing through a yellow flag zone, Leclerc puts in a purple sector one and goes fastest by 0.185s from Piastri with a 1m42.564s.
2nd for Hamilton but 0.552s down on Piastri's session-best effort.
"The ride feels terrible down the straight and under braking," reports Russell.
For perhaps their final qualifying simulations of the session, Mercedes cross the line with Russell and Hamilton to begin their laps.
Russell immediately locks up and goes off into the Turn 2 escape road.
Alex Kalinauckas 11:18:38 am
“The rubber going down here at Turn 4 has created a nice visual ideal racing line illustration - although the drivers will be looking far ahead of the front wheels given the narrow view from the cockpit.”
"Can you check the PU. Something sounds and feels a little bit funny," reports Russell. After Friday's issues, this isn't what Mercedes would have wanted to hear.
Purple in sector one, purple in sector two, and purple overall - a 1m42.749s puts Piastri top by a huge 0.640s margin!
Perez's latest table-topping effort is a 1m43.389s - but here comes Piastri with another effort.
Completing their times at a similar time to Norris however, Perez, Leclerc, Verstappen, Albon, Sainz and Russell have all pushed the McLaren driver to seventh.
Alex Kalinauckas 11:14:14 am
“Colapinto just got Turn 4 all wrong - slow getting too close to the kerb on the inside, which badly unsettles the cars, the wide and losing speed as he fought to avoid the wall on the outside.”
With 17 minutes remaining, teams are beginning to practice the tow in case it's needed in qualifying slightly later on today.
And it's straight to the top for Norris. That 1m44.226s will be a confidence-boosting lap!
Yellows again briefly in sector one, but Norris is able to complete his effort this time.
We're back under way in Baku and perhaps unsurprisingly, Norris is back out immediately to finally get some form of representative time on the board.
"Oh, I'm such an idiot." Bearman delivers his self-criticism after that error.
Alex Kalinauckas 11:06:48 am
“Down at Turn 4, there’s a big slather of dust offline - if the drivers slide too wide as Oscar Piastri just did, it’s going to stay on their tyres for quite a while. The track surface this year is a key topic for car performance as there’s much more detritus on the circuit than usual. It’s making tyre warm-up very tricky for the drivers.”
That's a rookie error for Bearman, carrying too much speed into Turn 1 before bailing out too late and smashing his left front into the runoff barriers, wrecking the suspension and his front wing.
But Norris is stopped in his tracks, as the red flags again fly.
Yellow flag for Bearman in sector 1 as he was beginning his first timed effort. Norris is also now on a timed lap.
Wow! That's a statement from Williams with Albon top on a 1m44.371s putting him fastest with team-mate Colapinto second. One suspects they may have turned up the wick slightly more than the others.
Only Norris and Bearman remain in the pits of those without a time.
But Verstappen now takes over with a 1m45.209s, with sainz, Perez and Leclerc all pushing Piastri back.
