Report and highlights of the FP3 of the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: George Russell leads Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris in the final practice session in Baku, while Bearman crashes

Leclerc wasn't done there, however, and continued to brave yellow flags to bring the fastest time down to 1:42.564 minutes. Norris overtook Piastri to take second place, Verstappen took fourth place and Russell came in fifth despite further complaints about the engine and balance issues.

Russell was able to make a final move to P1 in the closing moments with a quick run to the chequered flag, posting a time of 1m42.514s, finishing a few thousandths ahead of Leclerc, who also made a slight improvement, while the McLarens dropped to third and fourth.

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Verstappen completed the top five as the leading Red Bull driver ahead of Sainz and Perez, who were involved in another incident at the end of the session when the Ferrari appeared to be hampered at Turn 15, while the Williams duo of Albon and Colapinto finished in very encouraging 8th and 9th places.

Lewis Hamilton finished tenth in the other Mercedes, followed by the Aston Martin and RB machines of Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo and the remaining Alpine and Haas cars of Pierre Gasly and Hülkenberg.

Kick-Sauber drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu finished 17th and 18th respectively behind the retired Ocon and Bearman. Attention now turns to qualifying, which takes place this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. local time.