Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time in third practice but a crash by Sergey Sirotkin disrupted the final minutes of running before today’s qualifying session.
The Ferrari driver’s best effort of 1’43.091 did not improve on the quickest time set by his team mate Kimi Raikkonen yesterday. Most drivers did not lower their times despite almost all of them using the ultra-soft tyres for much of the session.Lewis Hamilton chipped away at his time to end up second fastest, within four-tenths of a second of the Ferrari. Behind him were three drivers covered by little more than a tenth of a second: Raikkonen, Max Verstappen (enjoying his smoothest session of the weekend so far) and Valtteri Bottas.
Friday pace-setter Daniel Ricciardo was only 12th fastest. All four Mercedes-powered drivers feature in the top 10 despite Sirotkin’s crash, which occurred at the exit of turn three with just under 10 minutes left to run in the session.
Kevin Magnussen continued to demonstrate the potential of the Haas with seventh-fastest time. But team mate Romain Grosjean was still unhappy with the balance of his car, spinning twice and reporting various balance complaints on the radio.
The Renault drivers languished towards the bottom of the times having spent much of the session on the harder super-soft tyres. Brendon Hartley propped up the times sheets having locked up at one point while avoiding Vettel’s Ferrari.
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Third practice visual gaps
Sebastian Vettel – 1’43.091
+0.361 Lewis Hamilton – 1’43.452
+0.402 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’43.493
+0.428 Max Verstappen – 1’43.519
+0.478 Valtteri Bottas – 1’43.569
+0.845 Sergio Perez – 1’43.936
+0.867 Kevin Magnussen – 1’43.958
+1.032 Lance Stroll – 1’44.123
+1.129 Esteban Ocon – 1’44.220
+1.443 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’44.534
+1.672 Fernando Alonso – 1’44.763
+1.770 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’44.861
+1.814 Pierre Gasly – 1’44.905
+2.127 Charles Leclerc – 1’45.218
+2.170 Romain Grosjean – 1’45.261
+2.341 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’45.432
+2.365 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’45.456
+2.414 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’45.505
+2.819 Marcus Ericsson – 1’45.910
+3.095 Brendon Hartley – 1’46.186
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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Complete practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’44.277 | 1’42.795 | 1’44.861 | +2.066 | 76 |
| 2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’46.861 | 1’42.864 | 1’43.493 | +0.629 | 60 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’45.559 | 1’42.911 | 1’43.519 | +0.608 | 55 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’46.513 | 1’44.127 | 1’43.091 | -1.036 | 73 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’45.200 | 1’43.603 | 1’43.452 | -0.151 | 71 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’44.242 | 1’43.570 | 1’43.569 | -0.001 | 71 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’46.465 | 1’43.700 | 1’44.763 | +1.063 | 71 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’45.237 | 1’43.814 | 1’44.220 | +0.406 | 70 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’48.741 | 1’43.834 | 1’45.432 | +1.598 | 62 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’45.075 | 1’44.142 | 1’43.936 | -0.206 | 66 |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’47.434 | 1’43.977 | 1’43.958 | -0.019 | 58 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’46.749 | 1’44.091 | 1’45.456 | +1.365 | 55 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’46.590 | 1’44.459 | 1’44.123 | -0.336 | 65 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’46.856 | 1’44.425 | 1’45.261 | +0.836 | 62 |
| 15 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’46.480 | 1’45.007 | 1’44.534 | -0.473 | 70 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’46.492 | 1’44.712 | 1’44.905 | +0.193 | 73 |
| 17 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’46.875 | 1’44.940 | 1’45.218 | +0.278 | 66 |
| 18 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’46.747 | 1’45.051 | 1’46.186 | +1.135 | 79 |
| 19 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’47.967 | 1’45.288 | 1’45.505 | +0.217 | 63 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’47.073 | 1’46.042 | 1’45.910 | -0.132 | 47 |
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2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- Ricciardo: Baku “s***show” was Red Bull’s fault
- Bottas “cried like a baby” after losing Baku win
- Williams denies targeting rivals by requesting review of Sirotkin’s Baku penalty
- Magnussen texted second apology to Gasly after Baku
- Ricciardo: No way to avoid Verstappen crash after he changed lines
CuCkoo
28th April 2018, 12:13
We are up for a promising qualifying session!
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th April 2018, 12:16
From that angle for the top picture, the Ferrari’s front suspension looks incredibly tough – like off-road tough!
Osella-AlfaRomeo (@osella-alfaromeo)
28th April 2018, 12:18
Laptimes are slow, compared to last year. And Stoffel has yet to find his mojo.
Jere (@jerejj)
28th April 2018, 12:23
@osella-alfaromeo The lap times were slow in the FP sessions compared to last year in Australia, Bahrain, and China as well, so nothing to worry about on this front. Qualifying is when it really matters after all.
Osella-AlfaRomeo (@osella-alfaromeo)
28th April 2018, 12:26
yep, engage the “ludicrous mode”. And sunday is when it matters ;-)
Markp
28th April 2018, 13:54
Only 3 engines allowed now so engines remain turned down now for all 3 practice sessions?
RP (@slotopen)
28th April 2018, 12:27
I’m on the East coast in USA. looks love qualifying should be a 9am EST.
I’ve got 3 channels of ESPN (spectrum cable) and no Qualifying listed. Looks like my only option is Spanish language at 11:55.
Anybody else in US having trouble?
danarcha (@danarcha)
28th April 2018, 12:39
ESPN’s website says it will be on ESPN2 at 9:00 eastern. My guide for Comcast cable has a different program at that time, but I suspect that is a mistake and they will show qualifying on ESPN2.
RP (@slotopen)
28th April 2018, 22:29
@danarcha
They stuck w the Bass Master Baiters here at 9. Pretty funny, guys in sponsorized coveralls, rock n roll intro music, boats speeding around.
Mostly like F1. But then they were strutting toward the podium with a bass in each hand.
So I watched qualifying in Spanish at lunch time. It was the world feed. Honestly, I think not understanding the excited amigos in Spanish was way better than understanding the Sky chaps. Seriously considering watching race in Spanish.
Danarcha
28th April 2018, 22:40
That’s odd, we got qualifying live on ESPN2 here in the Midwest on Comcast. Next time you should be able to get it on watchespn.com if your cable company opts for fly-fishing or whatever.
Scalextric (@scalextric)
28th April 2018, 13:22
Should be on the app at least.