George Russell beat Charles Leclerc to prime spot in ultimate observe on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Russell fired in a purple ultimate sector on his strategy to a finest time of 1m 42.514s, reducing the weekend benchmark by nearly a second.
Russell’s lap got here within the ultimate two minutes of the session on five-lap-old mushy tires, pipping Leclerc by 0.013s.
The time got here regardless of the Briton complaining that “the trip feels horrible down the straight underneath braking” and after considerations of bizarre energy unit conduct on the brakes.
Mercedes undertook a precautionary energy unit change for Russell automobile between Friday observe periods.
Lando Norris accomplished the highest three behind Leclerc and 0.223s off the tempo for McLaren, making it three totally different groups within the prime three positions.
He set his flying lap late to pip teammate Oscar Piastri by simply 0.012s.
Max Verstappen was fifth quickest for Pink Bull and 0.348s off the tempo, the Dutchman climbing the order late because of a slipstream from teammate Sergio Perez in a bid to counteract his weekend-long struggles within the flat-out ultimate sector.
Carlos Sainz was sixth after having what would have been his ultimate flying lap disrupted by Sergio Perez on the super-fast Flip 15. A second try on the identical set of tires introduced him to sixth and 0.454s off the tempo, getting himself forward of the Mexican in seventh by 0.056s.
Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto impressed for Williams with eighth and ninth within the order, 0.68s and 0.724s off the tempo respectively.
Lewis Hamilton completed an nameless tenth and 0.787s adrift.
Aston Martin and RB competed for eleventh, with Fernando Alonso forward of Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll forward of Daniel Ricciardo.
Pierre Gasly was fifteenth forward of sole Haas finisher Nico Hulkenberg, whereas Sauber teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu have been final among the many drivers to have set occasions.
Esteban Ocon completed nineteenth with no time after struggling an influence unit downside getting ready for his first flying lap, forcing him to cease on observe and stroll away from his automobile.
Ocon additionally misplaced all of FP1 to an engine downside, necessitating an influence unit change earlier than FP2, which he additionally accomplished down in nineteenth place.
His stoppage, coming round 1 / 4 of the best way into the hour, suspended the session for 9 minutes, although the intermittent drizzle on the time meant few automobiles have been on observe to have their applications disrupted.
Oliver Bearman, standing in for the suspended Kevin Magnussen, was labeled final, additionally with no time, after smashing his Haas on the first flip.
Bearman carried an excessive amount of velocity into the nook however tried too late to bail for the run-off zone, wiping off his front-left nook towards the boundaries earlier than coming to a cease towards the wall.
“I’m such an fool,” he stated earlier than clambering from his automobile with no lap time set.
