Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent
Mercedes driver George Russell narrowly beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to fastest time in final practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Russell was just 0.013 seconds quicker than the Ferrari. The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri third and fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The session sets up an intriguing qualifying session as Formula 1 season heads into its final third with the championship potentially coming to the boil.
Verstappen still has a comfortable 62-point lead over Norris but the McLaren driver has closed in over the last two races at the average he needs to catch the Dutchman by the end of the season – just under eight points a race.
And McLaren have decided to “bias” their management towards Norris for now to see if they can make further inroads into Verstappen’s lead.
Verstappen was 0.125secs slower than Norris in the session, while the Briton was 0.223secs slower than Russell.
But Russell’s lap was set slightly later than Leclerc’s and the track is improving almost by the minute.
Behind Verstappen, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, the Williams cars of Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes completed the top 10.
Baku has been a scrappy start for George Russell but the Mercedes driver finishes in the best seat in the house before the all-important qualifying session.
Haas and Alpine will probably have to work through the break to get Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon into shape for this afternoon’s pole fight, but we can all go and have a stretch and some breakfast right now.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/live/c8er3xx9lrdt#:~:text=Russell%20narrowly%20beats,See%20you%20shortly.