Charles Leclerc was fastest again in the third practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, leading a Ferrari one-two ahead of qualifying.
Leclerc was almost two-tenths of a second faster than Sebastian Vettel, despite his team mate picking up the slipstream of Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso at the end of his quickest lap at the end of qualifying. Vettel made a last effort to unseat his team mate from the top spot, improving his time in the first sector, butran wide later in the lap.None of Ferrari’s rivals were able to get within a second of the flying SF90s. The charge was led not by the usual Mercedes, but by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, though he was 1.248s off Leclerc’s pace.
Valtteri Bottas led the Mercedes pair, who unlike Ferrari began the session on the medium compound tyres. After switching to the softs they remained around one-and-a-half seconds off the red cars, and Lewis Hamilton went up an escape road twice trying to better his time.
Toro Rosso underlined the potential of Honda’s upgraded power unit with Daniil Kvyat ‘best of the rest’ in sixth, two places ahead of team mate Alexander Albon. The pair were separated by Kevin Magnussen.
Pierre Gasly in the fourth Honda-powered car ended the session at the bottom of the times. His pit lane start penalty meant he had no reason to work on his single-lap pace.
Renault looked in slightly better shape than on Friday, but Daniel Ricciardo was kept out of the top 10 by Sergio Perez’s Racing Point and Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo. But the midfield was as close as ever – Ricciardo missed tenth place by two hundredths of a second.
The McLaren pair confirmed their Friday fears by ending the session outside the top 10, both drivers lapping in 1’43.9. George Russell completed his first meaningful laps in his new Williams chassis, but both the team’s drivers were one-and-a-half seconds off the next-slowest cars.
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Third practice visual gaps
Charles Leclerc – 1’41.604
+0.198 Sebastian Vettel – 1’41.802
+1.248 Max Verstappen – 1’42.852
+1.460 Valtteri Bottas – 1’43.064
+1.572 Lewis Hamilton – 1’43.176
+1.619 Daniil Kvyat – 1’43.223
+1.690 Kevin Magnussen – 1’43.294
+1.696 Alexander Albon – 1’43.300
+1.826 Sergio Perez – 1’43.430
+1.933 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’43.537
+1.957 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’43.561
+2.033 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’43.637
+2.320 Lando Norris – 1’43.924
+2.374 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’43.978
+2.435 Lance Stroll – 1’44.039
+2.439 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’44.043
+2.770 Romain Grosjean – 1’44.374
+4.396 Robert Kubica – 1’46.000
+4.686 George Russell – 1’46.290
+6.232 Pierre Gasly – 1’47.836
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’47.497 | 1’42.872 | 1’41.604 | -1.268 | 47 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’49.598 | 1’43.196 | 1’41.802 | -1.394 | 46 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’43.793 | 1’42.852 | -0.941 | 41 | |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’44.003 | 1’43.064 | -0.939 | 50 | |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’43.541 | 1’43.176 | -0.365 | 48 | |
| 6 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’44.177 | 1’43.223 | -0.954 | 28 | |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’44.901 | 1’43.294 | -1.607 | 45 | |
| 8 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’44.216 | 1’43.300 | -0.916 | 53 | |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’45.436 | 1’43.430 | -2.006 | 44 | |
| 10 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’45.482 | 1’43.537 | -1.945 | 50 | |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’45.483 | 1’43.561 | -1.922 | 36 | |
| 12 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’45.366 | 1’43.637 | -1.729 | 52 | |
| 13 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’44.295 | 1’43.924 | -0.371 | 53 | |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’44.183 | 1’43.978 | -0.205 | 47 | |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’47.875 | 1’44.039 | -3.836 | 25 | |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’46.717 | 1’44.043 | -2.674 | 44 | |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull-Honda | 1’44.240 | 1’47.836 | +3.596 | 47 | |
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’45.618 | 1’44.374 | -1.244 | 48 | |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’48.111 | 1’46.000 | -2.111 | 47 | |
| 20 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’46.290 | 23 |
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2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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- Mercedes start season with record-breaking fourth consecutive one-two
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Jere (@jerejj)
27th April 2019, 12:08
Gasly was clearly just focusing on race-trim.
erikje
27th April 2019, 13:52
That;s in the article, is it not?
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
27th April 2019, 12:22
Hopefully it will stay something like this through Quali.
For the sake of a genuine championship battle we need to see the Ferraris and/or Max grabbing some firsts and seconds I think.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
27th April 2019, 12:42
@nullapax I hope the positions stay the same, can’t say the same about the gap though.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
27th April 2019, 13:11
Shaping up well to be a Merc pole.