Bottas on top, Vettel and Verstappen hit trouble

2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix third practice

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Valtteri Bottas put Mercedes on top as practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix concluded.

However he was less than a tenth of a second quicker than the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen following their final runs on super-soft tyres. Team mate Lewis Hamilton was third-quickest, over four tenths of a second behind, after near-missed with the barrier at the altered turn eight.

The second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel covered just seven laps before being confined to the pits. Vettel’s engineer confirmed on the radio he had a repeat of an earlier problem with the car.

Having been quickest in both sessions yesterday Max Verstappen also hit trouble in the final hour of running. His car came to a stop while he was on course to improve his lap time. The RB13 simply lost power, Verstappen reported on the radio.

That left him sixth behind his team mate and the Force India of Esteban Ocon, who impressively lapped just six-tenths of a second slower than Bottas. The other Force India also made it into the top ten along with both Wiliams drivers and Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso.

Jolyon Palmer’s frustrating weekend continued when his Renault caught fire on his fifth lap. He parked the smouldering car at turn two, bringing out the yellow flags for almost ten minutes while the marshals cleared the scene.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
177Valtteri BottasMercedes1’42.74221
27Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’42.8370.09514
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’43.1580.41623
43Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’43.2870.54524
531Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’43.3440.60221
633Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’43.6140.87216
719Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’43.7380.99618
826Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’43.9081.16621
918Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’44.0401.29817
1011Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’44.1381.39622
1127Nico HulkenbergRenault1’44.3121.57016
125Sebastian VettelFerrari1’44.3441.6027
1355Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’44.4011.65923
1414Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’44.7411.99918
1520Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’44.9262.18420
162Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’45.1432.40117
178Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’45.4912.74920
189Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’45.6452.90321
1994Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’45.7222.98019
2030Jolyon PalmerRenault1’53.04010.2984

Third practice visual gaps

Valtteri Bottas – 1’42.742

+0.095 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’42.837

+0.416 Lewis Hamilton – 1’43.158

+0.545 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’43.287

+0.602 Esteban Ocon – 1’43.344

+0.872 Max Verstappen – 1’43.614

+0.996 Felipe Massa – 1’43.738

+1.166 Daniil Kvyat – 1’43.908

+1.298 Lance Stroll – 1’44.040

+1.396 Sergio Perez – 1’44.138

+1.570 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’44.312

+1.602 Sebastian Vettel – 1’44.344

+1.659 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’44.401

+1.999 Fernando Alonso – 1’44.741

+2.184 Kevin Magnussen – 1’44.926

+2.401 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’45.143

+2.749 Romain Grosjean – 1’45.491

+2.903 Marcus Ericsson – 1’45.645

+2.980 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’45.722

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Best times by tyre

DriverTeamBest super-soft timeSuper-soft gapBest soft timeSoft gapBest medium timeMedium gap
Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’43.1580.4161’44.3900.675’37.096229.944
Valtteri BottasMercedes1’42.7421’43.7205’01.096193.944
Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1’43.2870.5451’46.7903.075’04.096196.944
Max VerstappenRed Bull1’43.6140.8721’46.4402.729’34.096466.944
Sebastian VettelFerrari1’44.3441.602None4’23.096155.944
Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’42.8370.095None4’27.096159.944
Sergio PerezForce India1’44.1381.396NoneNone
Esteban OconForce India1’43.3440.602NoneNone
Felipe MassaWilliams1’43.7380.996NoneNone
Lance StrollWilliams1’44.0401.298None1’59.35712.205
Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1’44.7411.999None1’49.7832.631
Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren1’45.1432.401None1’47.152
Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso1’44.4011.659NoneNone
Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1’43.9081.166NoneNone
Romain GrosjeanHaas1’45.4912.749None2’46.48259.33
Kevin MagnussenHaas1’44.9262.184None2’41.08653.934
Nico HulkenbergRenault1’44.3121.57None1’49.4662.314
Jolyon PalmerRenaultNoneNone1’53.0405.888
Marcus EricssonSauber1’45.6452.9031’47.9034.1832’33.91546.763
Pascal WehrleinSauber1’45.7222.981’46.3822.6622’36.21449.062

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Valtteri BottasMercedes1’45.7371’43.4621’42.742-0.7272
2Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’46.0001’43.4891’42.837-0.65267
3Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’45.4971’44.5251’43.158-1.36762
4Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’44.8801’43.4731’43.287-0.18680
5Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’45.7521’44.4841’43.344-1.1482
6Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’44.4101’43.3621’43.614+0.25271
7Sebastian VettelFerrari1’44.9671’43.6151’44.344+0.72962
8Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’45.9681’44.6091’43.738-0.87176
9Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’46.6171’44.3211’43.908-0.41359
10Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’46.6491’44.1131’44.040-0.07372
11Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’45.3981’44.3061’44.138-0.16872
12Nico HulkenbergRenault1’47.2171’46.0031’44.312-1.69166
13Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’47.5011’45.7331’44.401-1.33270
14Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’47.5511’45.5151’44.741-0.77453
15Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’46.7211’45.8311’44.926-0.90576
16Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’47.4461’46.1741’45.143-1.03167
17Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’46.8371’47.7221’45.491-1.34664
18Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’49.9371’47.3471’45.645-1.70267
19Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’49.0481’47.1501’45.722-1.42863
20Jolyon PalmerRenault1’48.5251’46.0611’53.040+6.97936

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Bottas on top, Vettel and Verstappen hit trouble”

  1. And again Max’s car stops working. From RIC’s time it doesn’t look like like the bulls are up there for qualy. Too bad

  2. Bottas was very impressive and he was doing a lot of intelligent driving. lets see how quali goes.

    1. He is good in setting up his car. Where as Lewis cries for the setup. And with this comment his fans will go mad.

      1. Luckily for Hamilton he still has 3 wins so far.

      2. Ouch that must hurt.

  3. Ferrari, Seb fan
    24th June 2017, 13:02

    None of this makes sense. Vet and ver have car issues, rai and ric are good but can’t quite find leading pace. Ham is doing good but I think he has a problem with getting tyres up to temperature. So only bot has not had any issues. Not to mention the amount of times drivers have gone off.

    1. Might make an interesting race.

  4. Looking at times if Vettel had got a run in Merc and Ferrari appear to be clear after yesterdays excitment at RB. RB may have problems with Williams and Force India. At this stage yesterday looked like a freak event.

  5. That Palmer guy! Renault give him the hottest car out there and he parks it ! Again! Off with his head!

Comments are closed.