Max Verstappen ended Mercedes’ Thursday monopoly at the Baku City Circuit. The Red Bull driver topped Free Practice 3 with a 1:43.922, denying George Russell a clean sweep of all three sessions ahead of qualifying. Russell was second, only 0.099 seconds back, and Lewis Hamilton completed a three-way fight at the front in 1:44.033, 0.111 seconds off Verstappen. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was fourth for Mercedes, with Charles Leclerc fifth after an off at Turn 7.

Crash.net’s live coverage and RaceFans’ session report both paint the same picture: windier Friday conditions, soft tyres that kept improving over a long run, and a qualifying fight that suddenly looks wider than Mercedes alone. Qualifying follows at 16:00 local time in Baku (14:00 Paris).

Verstappen’s late soft-tyre charge

Russell had set the tone for much of the hour. On softs he moved clear with a 1:44.177, then improved to 1:44.021, putting Antonelli about two tenths behind and looking set for a third practice win. Verstappen’s early soft run was only good enough for fifth on a 1:45.168, and he vented his frustration over the car’s bumpy ride on the radio after running off at Turn 15.

The picture changed in the final ten minutes. RaceFans reports that Verstappen kept finding time across a long soft-tyre stint of about 12 laps, first to 1:44.162 with a tow, then 1:44.126, and finally 1:43.922 without a tow. He glanced the wall at Turn 15 on that lap and later skidded into the run-off on a last attempt, but the time stood. Russell and Antonelli had already switched back to mediums for the end of the session while others kept improving on softs.

“If for once this car wouldn’t jump like a kangaroo — my God!”

— Max Verstappen on team radio after running off at Turn 15 (via Crash.net)

Hamilton joins the fight; Leclerc loses time at Turn 7

Hamilton’s third place was a late jump. Mid-session Ferrari spent time on his front-left brake and he was briefly out of the car, then he ran on at Turn 3 before climbing to within 0.111 seconds of Verstappen. Leclerc, half a second slower than his team-mate, went off at Turn 7 in the closing minutes — the same corner where Russell locked up and only just kept his Mercedes out of the wall earlier in the soft runs.

Pierre Gasly underlined Alpine’s Baku form again in sixth, ahead of both McLarens. Oscar Piastri was seventh and Lando Norris eighth, still searching for the one-lap confidence Norris lacked on Thursday. Isack Hadjar finished ninth, 1.254 seconds off, and told the pit wall he was repeatedly stuck in traffic; his race engineer’s reply, via RaceFans, was blunt: “Unfortunately I don’t control all the cars.” Franco Colapinto completed the top 10.