#F1 #AzerbaijanGP FP3: @LandoNorris quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen, @OscarPiastri.

Norris Azerbaijan GP FP3 – Lando Norris who suffered suspension damage yesterday and finished tenth in FP2, came back strongly to top the final practice session ahead of Max Verstappen who split the McLaren duo in second as championship leader Oscar Piastri completed the top three in the other MCL39 entry.

Norris set the session-topping time of a 1:41.223 on the C6 red side-walled softer compounds and was 0.222 seconds quicker than Verstappen whilst Piastri was a further 0.254 seconds off in third.

After a six-minute lull of no activity at the beginning of the session, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson was the first to venture on the Baku City Circuit with a set of the C4 white-marked harder tyres as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Oliver Bearman followed on the C4’s too.

Both RB’s of Lawson and Isack Hadjar returned to the box whilst Bearman was the sole driver on track.

Replays showed Bearman suffer a rear lock on entry into the run-off area on his initial flyer and had to abandon it.

The Briton was the first to register the benchmark of a 1:47.333 on the harder tyres at the 12^th minute mark of proceedings.

Norris who suffered a suspension damage after a whack to the wall yesterday evening in practice two, came out on a fresh set of the C6 softer rubber.

Bearman then improved to a 1:45.724 at the top before Norris with a purple sector one slotted into second with a 1:45.815 to be 0.091 seconds adrift of the Haas driver.

Lawson was next putting his VCARB02 into third to be 2.643 seconds off the Briton.

Piastri followed and with two purple sectors went quickest on a 1:44.817 as Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg jumped to second and was 0.735 off the Australian as the session reached the 20^th-minute mark.

Hamilton put his Ferrari fifth with three personal bests as Leclerc with a purple opening sector and two personal bests ended up second to split Bearman and Piastri.

Bearman improved to a 1:44.450 as Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams’ Alexander Albon moved into second and third respectively to be both 0.097 and 0.111 seconds off the former’s benchmark.

Norris was back out and on his next hot-lap and with two purples went to the top on a 1:43.640 to be 0.678 seconds clear of Lawson as then Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli split both drivers with his 1:44.099 effort to go second.

Leclerc followed with two purples and despite a mistake at the last sector still went quickest with a 1:43.048 as Albon returned to second to be 0.501 seconds off the Ferrari driver.

Verstappen was up next on his flyer and with three personal bests put the Red Bull second to be 0.396 seconds off Leclerc’s benchmark.

Hamilton then with two personal bests and a purple final sector jumped to the top with a 1:42.988 to be a slim 0.060 seconds clear of his team-mate.

Hadjar on his fifth tour on the harder rubber moved to fifth to be 0.479 seconds off Hamilton’s best effort.

Piastri then with three personal bests went fastest on a 1:42.726 to be 0.262 seconds quicker than Hamilton as the qualifying simulation runs were heating up.

Williams’ Carlos Sainz with three personal bests jumped to second to be 0.166 seconds off Piastri’s benchmark as replays showed Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was seen hitting his front-left tyre into the wall.

Leclerc with 28 minutes remaining, went quickest despite only a personal best final sector set a 1:42.354 to end up 0.372 clear of Piastri.

Replays showed Gasly go into the run-off area at turn one as the Frenchman turned his car around and continued on.

Albon with three personal bests slotted into sixth place behind his team-mate Sainz as Verstappen with the best middle sector moved to second with his 1:42.567 effort with less than 25 minutes left on the clock.

Leclerc was next and with a personal best middle sector and despite tapping the wall with his front-left improved his time slightly at the top with a 1:42.328 to be 0.239 seconds clear.

Verstappen followed and with two purple sectors and picking up a slip-stream from the Aston Martin as he ran down to the line shot to the head of the times with a 1:41.727 to be 0.601 seconds faster than Leclerc.

Hamilton with two personal best sectors got to third in the order posting a 1:42.416 to be 0.689 seconds off Verstappen’s benchmark.

Tsunoda with two personal bests and with a distant slipstream jumped to ninth to be 1.414 seconds off his team-mate’s session-topper.

Albon was next with a purple opening sector and the Williams driver moved to second to be 0.256 seconds off Verstappen’s effort as Russell slots into third to be 0.372 off the reigning world champion.

Antonelli then split Albon and his team-mate in third as Norris with two purple sectors went quickest on a 1:41.223 to be 0.504 seconds quicker than Verstappen with 11 minutes remaining.

Sainz with nine minutes remaining jumped to tenth to be 1.293 seconds off Norris’s benchmark as Verstappen abandoned his flying tour.

Replays showed Piastri suffering an off-track excursion on his cooldown lap, so he really is not in a good rhythm out there after almost hitting the wall on his flyer beforehand.

Piastri then jumped to second briefly with a solid slipstream from Colapinto, but it was Verstappen who demoted the Australian down a place with a 1:41.445 effort to be 0.222 seconds off Norris’s benchmark with four minutes remaining.

Hamilton was on another flyer and with a purple sector one and a personal best middle sector moved to third to be 1:41.499 to be 0.276 off Norris’s session-topper.

Lawson with three personal bests placed eighth behind Russell with his 1:42.146 effort.

Piastri was on his next hot-lap and with a personal best sector one and a bit of a slipstream was up into third to be 0.254 seconds adrift of his leading team-mate Norris whilst Antonelli was up into fifth.

Russell right at the end with two personal bests ended up sixth behind Mercedes team-mate Antonelli.

The session finished with Norris at the top as Verstappen split the McLaren duo in second with Piastri rounding out the top three.

Hamilton who topped FP2 yesterday was fourth and in-front the aforementioned Mercedes pairing Antonelli and Russell who were sixth and seventh respectively.

Bearman followed in eighth whilst Lawson and Leclerc rounded out the top ten.

You can see the full Formula 1 Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2025 – PRACTICE 3

2025 F1 World Championship Standings

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#F1 Qatar Airways #AzerbaijanGP 2025 Preview. #Formula1