This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.
The session is done with Russell fastest ahead of Leclerc and Norris. Read our full report here.
Verstappen moves up to fifth, he caught Perez awkwardly at the end of the lap, which had all the hallmarks of Red Bull trying to synchronise their drivers’ runs to give their championship leader the benefit of a slipstream.
The chequered flag drops with Russell on top of the times. There may be more in that Ferrari, though: Leclerc describes his last effort as: “shit”.
Russell’s had a scrappy session but he’s got some speed in the Mercedes, he goes up to the top with a 1’42.514, 0.013s faster than Leclerc. A brief yellow flag for Hulkenberg at turn three.
Sainz is not at all happy after being held up by Perez on the approach to turn 15. The Ferrari driver has to cut the inside of the corner.
Verstappen goes up to third place with a 1’42.864. Norris gets a useful slipstream from Daniel Ricciardo as he begins a lap, but his first sector is over a tenth off Piastri. He sets a 1’42.737 for second place, 0.173s off Leclerc.
Leclerc has something for Piastri, though – a 1’42.564 beats the McLaren driver by 0.185 seconds. The Ferrari has looked consistently quick since the weekend began, Leclerc’s prang yesterday notwithstanding.
Hamilton, who was in the top three in both of yesterday’s sessions, moves up to second with a 1’43.301, but is a whopping 0.552s off Piastri.
Now Russell skids off and resumes, but he reports “the ride feels terrible, down the straight, under braking.”
Russell: “Check the PU, something feels and sounds a little bit funny.”
Perez does a 1’43.389 to take over the top of the times, but Piastri produces a much stronger lap, 1’42.749, 0.64 seconds faster than the Red Bull.
Leclerc takes over at the top of the times with a 1’43.455 in the Ferrari, 0.168s up on Albon. Sainz slots into third, 0.341s off his team mate.
The session has restarted again with Albon still on top of the times followed by Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg up in third.
Bearman is kicking himself over that mistake. “I’m such an idiot,” he says on the radio. He’s damaged the front-left of his car, which the Haas team should be able to repair in time for qualifying, which starts in just under three hours’ time.
The red flag comes as a relief – literally – for Charles Leclerc, who had been asking his team if he could go to the toilet at the end of the previous red flag and was told to stay in the car. He jumps out of his car…
Red flag again: Oliver Bearman is in the barrier at the exit of turn one. He’s climbing out of the car. That’s the fifth red flag so far this weekend.
A succession of drivers take turns at the top of the times – and then the Williams duo beat the lot of them, Alexander Albon going quickest with a 1’44.371, Franco Colapinto eight tents of a second off, fractionally quicker than Verstappen in third.
Piastri: “Some very light drops of rain.” Russell: “Very light rain drops.” Norris pits.
The session resumes with 36 minutes remaining. Oscar Piastri leads the drivers out, followed by the Mercedes, Lando Norris in the other McLaren, plus the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers among others, all on softs.
Alpine’s poor weekend continues as Esteban Ocon comes to a stop at the start of the run to the pits, near where Pierre Gasly had a battery problem yesterday. Ocon also missed part of first practice with an MGU-H problem. He’s told to jump clear of his car as the session is red-flagged.
Perez: “It feels a little bit damp, the track.” Race control say there is a 30% chance of rain in this session.
The Red Bull drivers waste no time in joining the track on soft tyres. The Sauber drivers and Yuki Tsunoda also head out, on hards.
Overnight the race organisers did some work at turns 18 and 19 to improve the track surface by smoothing out some bumps. Charles Leclerc had complained about the ride at that point on the track.
It was extremely close between the top three teams yesterday. Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes all set times within a tenth of a second of each other. Lando Norris was quick to downplay McLaren’s chances after practice, but the competitive picture is likely to change over the coming hour as the track conditions improve. The circuit surface wasn’t prepared as usual before yesterday’s running, meaning it was very dusty, lap times were well off what we saw last year and there’s the potential for it to improve quite a lot more over the coming session.
Third practice for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix is coming up next.
2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- Verstappen: “Important” for FIA to clarify legality of McLaren’s ‘mini DRS’ wing
- Hamilton explains suspension set-up change behind “miserable” Baku weekend
- Piastri needs “crazy” results to become title contender despite Baku win
- FIA taking new look at flexing bodywork amid intrigue over McLaren’s rear wing
- Norris knew Verstappen broke VSC rules in Baku because he did the same in Melbourne