Vettel fastest in Azerbaijan F1 FP3, Hamilton runner-up, Red Bull manages fourth and 12th

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in the third practice session of the Azerbaijan Formula 1 Grand Prix, ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari set the pace until late efforts from Mercedes threatened to topple Vettel’s leading time, but Hamilton could only muster second, 0.361sec off the pace. Kimi Räikkonen finished another 0.041sec behind.

Valtteri Bottas (fifth) was leapfrogged for fourth by Max Verstappen at the end of the session, with the two split by 0.050sec.

Sergio Pérez continued a strong weekend for Force India to finish sixth ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

Red Bull’s pace from FP1 and FP2 was subdued on Saturday afternoon, though Verstappen’s late effort showed a more representative pace; Daniel Ricciardo finished 12^th, 1.3sec off his team-mate.

Sergey Sirotkin, after a solid session of running for Williams, brought out a red flag with nine minutes remaining with a lock up through Turn 3 and a shunt into the outside wall.

Separated from the leader by 1.443sec, Sirotkin finished 10^th, while team-mate Lance Stroll managed eighth – Force India’s Esteban Ocon splitting the two Williams.

The session restarted with three minutes remaining, causing a flurry of late activity with the majority of teams fitting new ultrasofts to their cars.

But that left only one flying lap left in the session and little changed on the leaderboard.

Stoffel Vandoorne finished 18^th, ahead of Marcus Ericsson, while Brendon Hartley rounded out the standings which were spread over 3.095sec.

Azerbaijan Formula 1 Grand Prix FP3 results