2021 Azerbaijan GP - FP3: Gasly quickest as Verstappen crashes in chaotic final practice

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly went fastest in final practice ahead of qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Early Stages

In what was a pretty dramatic practice session, there were multiple errors and incidents over the course of the hour with plenty of flying laps ruined by yellow flags being shown.

Air temperature in Baku was warm 27.5°C with track temps at 54°C when final practice kicked off, a crucial session for Mercedes to reset after its massive underperformance on Friday.

But Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were in no hurry to hit the track as soon as the lights went green, contrary to Haas rookies Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher who put the first times on the board.

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As the track populated, drivers took turns at the top but AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda lowered the benchmark to a 1m43.447s on the soft tyre, but the Japanese charger was outdone in short order by teammate Gasly while Charles Leclerc slotted into third.

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Getting close at the top

Hamilton and Bottas eventually sprang into action, but the Briton appeared unimpressed with whatever changes had been made to his W12 overnight. "No rear end...or front," quipped the Mercedes driver over the radio.

Max Verstappen crashed at the 25-minute mark, hitting the barriers at Turn 15 after deciding against trying to bail out of the corner. The session was briefly red-flagged in order to recover the Red Bull, which had evident front right wheel damage.

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Practice resumed with 25 minutes remaining on the clock, with Gasly leading the field with a 1m43.051s. Soft-tyre runs were the norm for most drivers, which allowed Aston Martin's Lance Stroll to enter the top four

The red flag meant there was a flurry of action as drivers headed out on the soft tyres for their qualifying simulations in the minutes that remained, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz sliding straight into the escape area at Turn 15 on his flying lap.

Ferrari's Leclerc had his first flying lap ruined as he encountered yellow flags as Williams' Nicholas Latifi went off into the escape area at Turn 3. Leclerc then managed to improve to go quickest, before Sergio Perez responded to lead Red Bull's charge and take over at the front.

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In the Mercedes camp, there was a glimmer of hope for Hamilton who set the third fastest lap overall, but teammate Bottas could do no better than 13th, leaving the Brackley squad with another few hours of head-scratching ahead of qualifying.

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Radio communication in the Mercedes camp indicated that there was little change to the team's plight. "That change didn't make any difference, so I don't know," reported Bottas, sat down in 17th position.

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• 2021 F1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX - FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (3)

Results from the third and final practice session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Round 6 of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship.