Sergio Pérez Heads Final Practice as Red Bull, Ferrari Battle It Out Again in Baku

Sergio Pérez came out on top in final practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday, with Qualifying later in the day likely to be a straight battle between Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari for pole position.

The top four drivers were separated by just over four-tenths of a second at the Baku City Circuit, with Pérez edging out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.070 seconds at the head of the timesheets.

Max Verstappen, who had his final run interrupted by traffic having earlier been forced to abort another lap as Valtteri Bottas went off track at turn three, ended third quickest, just 0.279 seconds back, while Carlos Sainz Jr. in the second Ferrari placed fourth, 0.426 seconds back.

Throughout the session, the four drivers were trading quickest sector times and overall lap times, and if this continues into Qualifying then fans are in for a fantastic battle for pole position.

The start of the session had been delayed due to barrier repairs being undertaken at turn one after they were damaged by a final lap crash in the preceding FIA Formula 2 race, and Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Lance Stroll was the first on track, while both the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, also went out early.

Mercedes was struggling for performance on Friday and were ‘porpoising’ badly down the straights, and it was an important session for both Russell and Hamilton to see if they had solved any of the issues that had blighted them on the opening day of running.

However, it was another poor session for both drivers, Russell ending up the faster of the two in eighth, while Hamilton could only manage twelfth, although he was running with reduced power as Mercedes turned down his engine in the second half of the session to preserve the life of the power unit.

The best of the rest was the McLaren F1 Team, with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo ending up fifth and sixth respectively, 1.248 and 1.306 seconds back on Pérez’s best time.  For Ricciardo in particular it will be a confidence boost for a driver under pressure to perform after struggling to match Norris for much of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season so far.

Also finding himself ahead of both Mercedes’ was Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, the Frenchman ending seventh, just 0.015 seconds behind Ricciardo’s best time, while BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top ten.

After a strong performance on Friday, it was not as impressive session for the second Alpine of Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard ending down in eleventh, more than a tenth and a half down on team-mate Ocon, but 0.003 seconds ahead of the struggling Hamilton.

Stroll placed his Aston Martin into thirteenth ahead of the leading Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver, Zhou Guanyu, with Zhou’s team-mate Bottas enduring a tough session with no fewer than three off-track moments along the way.  The Finn ended up nineteenth of the twenty runners.

Kevin Magnussen was the best placed of the Haas F1 Team drivers in fifteenth, just ahead of the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda, while Alexander Albon was the better of the two Williams F1 Team drivers in seventeenth.  Haas’ Mick Schumacher was eighteenth, while slowest of all was the second Williams of Nicholas Latifi.

For now, Pérez has the advantage, but can he sustain that into Qualifying.  The battle for pole position promises to be epic on Saturday afternoon, while the closeness of the field behind them will make the challenge of escaping both Q1 and Q2 a difficult one for pretty much everyone else. 

Baku City Circuit Free Practice 3 Result