The final practice of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was marred with incidents. We had it all. A red flag, a virtual safety car and plenty of yellow flags. The majority of the grid had difficulties keep their cars on track, going off into the various runoff areas on track.
Pierre Gasly was the man on top come the end of the session. Not only was he the fastest man on track but he was also the fastest by just over three tenths of a second. His Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda teammate Yuki Tsunoda had a better day, finishing eighth overall.
Sergio Pérez finished the session in second place, he has had the pace all weekend and is looking the favourite to get pole in Baku. Max Verstappen didn’t have the best of sessions. He crashed his car into the barrier at Turn 15, damaging his wing. He was unable to get his car restarted, causing the session to be red flagged for five minutes. Verstappen wasn’t able to re-join and finished in fifteenth.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team have been on the back foot yet again this morning. Lewis Hamilton was able to get his car up to third, thanks to a monster tow at the end of his fastest lap. Valtteri Bottas got himself in a few mishaps on track, locking up and going into the runoff areas. He could only get thirteenth overall.
Scuderia Ferrari have been the most consistent team of the weekend. Their session was also marred by the drivers locking up and ruining flying laps, but Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. still managed fourth and fifth respectively overall.
Lando Norris outpaced his McLaren F1 Team teammate Daniel Ricciardo, yet again. The duo had a good session, managing to avoid all the yellow flag chaos. Norris got his car up to sixth with Ricciardo rounding out the top ten in tenth.
Alpine F1 Team are looking to be on fine form. They’ve spent most of the weekend in the top ten and look promising to get both their cars into Q3 come qualifying. Fernando Alonso was the strongest of the pair, coming in seventh but Esteban Ocon wasn’t too far behind him in ninth.
It doesn’t look as if Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team will be repeating their points heroics from the Monaco Grand Prix. The drivers haven’t really tested the top ten and it will be a surprise if either are in Q3. Sebastian Vettel came eleventh with Lance Stroll just behind him in twelfth.
Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN had a fairly quiet session. They weren’t able to do anything spectacular with Kimi Räikkönen coming in fourteenth and Antonio Giovinazzi in seventeenth.
George Russell came into difficulties when his car came to a grinding halt at Turn 1, bring out a Virtual Safety Car. The weekend hasn’t been great for Williams Racing, especially with Nicholas Latifi having car issues during Friday’s running’s. Latifi came sixteenth with Russell in eighteenth.
Finishing off the grid was Uralkali Haas F1 Team. Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin came nineteenth and twentieth respectively.
Free Practice 3 Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Nat. | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:42.251 | 16 | |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | MEX | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:42.595 | =+0.344s | 19 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1:42.697 | =+0.446s | 16 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1:42.778 | =+0.527s | 16 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1:43.006 | =+0.755s | 17 |
| 6 | 4 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1:43.011 | =+0.760s | 15 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Alpine F1 Team | 1:43.080 | =+0.829s | 15 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | JAP | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1:43.244 | =+0.993s | 19 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team | 1:43.294 | =+1.043s | 15 |
| 10 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1:43.557 | =+1.306s | 17 |
| 11 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1:43.585 | =+1.334s | 13 |
| 12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1:43.682 | =+1.431s | 13 |
| 13 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1:43.745 | =+1.494s | 16 |
| 14 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1:43.826 | =+1.575s | 17 |
| 15 | 33 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:43.984 | =+1.733s | 6 |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 1:44.054 | =+1.803s | 17 |
| 17 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1:44.113 | =+1.862s | 11 |
| 18 | 63 | George Russell | GBR | Williams Racing | 1:44.434 | =+2.183s | 12 |
| 19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1:45.282 | =+3.031s | 17 |
| 20 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | RUS | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1:45.711 | =+3.460s | 12 |
