Verstappen strikes in Baku. Mercedes loses its grip on FP3. Hamilton stays in the hunt.
Max Verstappen toppled Mercedes at the end of a tense FP3 in Baku, clocking a fastest lap of 1:43.922. George Russell had led the way until the final minutes, but Red Bull Racing found a late answer on the street circuit.
Lewis Hamilton finished third, just over a tenth off the top spot, despite losing track time while Ferrari worked on his brakes and SF-26. With championship leader Kimi Antonelli fourth and Charles Leclerc fifth, the order points to a close fight when qualifying begins. The surprise pace has turned the expected Mercedes story on its head.
Max Verstappen ends Mercedes’ FP3 run in Baku
The session began cautiously, with few cars venturing out during the opening minutes. Overnight repairs at Turn 7 followed driver complaints from Thursday, giving teams another reason to assess the circuit before pushing hard. Ferrari started on soft tyres, while Mercedes and Red Bull Racing began their work on mediums.
Antonelli briefly topped the timing screen with a 1:45.046 on the medium compound, before Russell moved ahead with 27 minutes remaining. Then the field switched focus from longer runs to qualifying simulations. Verstappen, meanwhile, complained over the radio that his car was bouncing heavily—hardly the soundtrack of a driver ready to attack.
Late soft-tyre laps turn the order upside down
Russell looked in control on softs, setting 1:44.177 and improving again on his next attempt. Antonelli closed to within 0.252 seconds of his team-mate, while Verstappen initially sat around a second adrift. His second run cut that deficit sharply and put the Dutchman within striking distance.
Hamilton had to wait while Ferrari adjusted his car, then returned to post a first representative lap that placed him fifth, eight tenths behind Russell. In the final three minutes, Verstappen delivered the session’s decisive time: 1:43.922. The Mercedes drivers had already returned to the pits, leaving no opportunity to respond.
What Verstappen’s surprise pace means for qualifying
The final lap sharpened the technical question facing the front-runners: how much performance came from the car, and how much from the timing and execution of the run? Verstappen produced his fastest effort without a tow down Baku’s long straight, suggesting Red Bull Racing had found speed beyond a simple slipstream advantage. His earlier frustration over the car’s bouncing shows the setup still carries trade-offs.
Mercedes had set the pace across Thursday’s sessions and remained formidable on the soft tyre, but Russell could not answer once the Red Bull delivered its final lap. Hamilton’s limited qualifying simulation makes third place an incomplete measure of Ferrari’s potential. For more on the broader challenges facing Verstappen’s Red Bull, the car’s balance remains a key variable.
Hamilton lurks as the F1 rivalry tightens
Hamilton recovered enough track time to move into third, just over a tenth behind Verstappen, and that gap keeps Ferrari in the pole conversation. The seven-time champion’s late improvement gives the team useful evidence, but not a full picture of its one-lap pace. A closer look at the long-running Hamilton-Verstappen F1 rivalry adds context to any fight between them, though Baku’s stopwatch will decide this one.
Antonelli and Leclerc also sit close enough to complicate the front-row battle, while McLaren remained nearly a second off the leading pace in its first soft-tyre runs. The repaired Turn 7, tight walls and long straight leave little room for a scruffy lap. This Formula 1 practice session has set up qualifying as a contest between Mercedes’ sustained pace, Ferrari’s late response and Verstappen’s final-minute strike.
