Max Verstappen records the fastest time in Free Practice 3 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, edging out George Russell. The Independent reports that Russell had been fastest in both earlier Thursday sessions in Baku, but he does not repeat that performance in the final practice run.
Sky Sports describes the session as error-filled, noting that Verstappen’s time prevents Russell from taking a clean sweep of fastest practice results. Both Sky Sports and Sports News characterise Red Bull as responding strongly, with Verstappen leading a renewed challenge to the Mercedes drivers as qualifying approaches later on Friday.
F1 (Formula 1) similarly states that Verstappen finishes quickest in FP3 and adds that Lewis Hamilton is also among the drivers he outpaces in the session, reinforcing that the top order in practice tightens ahead of qualifying. Across the reports, the common focus is Verstappen overturning Russell’s earlier advantage immediately before the qualifying session.
