Perez outpaces Leclerc in final practice as Hamilton struggles

The Red Bull driver, who won last time out in Monaco and set the pace in FP1 on Friday, posted a lap just 0.070s quicker than Leclerc during the final practice session before qualifying in Baku. 

FP3 was delayed by 15 minutes while barrier repair works were carried out at Turn 1 following a crash in an earlier F2 race. 

Max Verstappen once again ended up as the second Red Bull driver in third, 0.279s down on his teammate. 

The reigning world champion was set to improve in the closing moments of the session but saw his lap ruined by traffic after he had gone quickest of all in the first sector. 

Carlos Sainz was fourth-quickest for Ferrari, ahead of McLaren pair Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. 

George Russell was the fastest Mercedes driver in eighth, while his seven-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton could only set a time good enough for 12th, 1.6s off Perez’s benchmark and two tenths slower than Russell. 

Both Mercedes drivers reported struggles with a lack of rear grip throughout the session in what has been a difficult start to the weekend in Azerbaijan for the reigning world champions. 

“I’m so far off, man. How far am I off?" Hamilton said over team radio. 

Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel completed the top-10 order for Alpine and Aston Martin respectively as just two-tenths separated 10th to 16th.

Once again there were no crashes in practice, though Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Leclerc both took trips down Baku’s escape roads. 

As a result of the delayed start to final practice, qualifying will begin 15 minutes later than scheduled at 3.15pm UK time.