The values are not at all clear even after the third free practice session of the Azerbaijan GP: the teams’ simulations gave a pole position time of 1’39” and they were surprised by the fact that the laps were three seconds slower, because the asphalt had not been washed with high-pressure water.
The reference, then, was given by George Russell with the Mercedes capable of reaching 1’42″614 with the soft tyres shortly before the checkered flag, after having complained of repeated braking problems with the W15. The British driver preceded Charles Leclerc by 13 thousandths: nothing. The Ferrari is very fast on the straight with an unloaded set-up and suffers a bit more in the driven section of the Castle, but the Monegasque seems to be the driver capable of inventing something for qualifying. The McLarens are a bit more detached: Lando Norris suffered a lot in the session, before taking the MCL38 to third place with a gap of 223 thousandths that put him ahead of Oscar Piastri by just 12 thousandths who has always been in front. The Australian seems calmer than his teammate who feels a lot of responsibility in being Max Verstappen’s challenger.
The Dutchman is only fifth, but the feeling is that his Honda engine is still flat, while the Red Bull seems decidedly improved compared to Monza. Max pays three tenths, but he prepared the qualifying by peeling the barriers with the rear end at the gutello del Castello.
Carlos Sainz is fifth with the second SF-24: the Spaniard ruined his best lap due to an impingement by Checo Perez who remained on the trajectory at turn 15, forcing the Ferrari driver to abort yet another lap. The action was noticed by the race direction, also because yesterday there was a precedent with the roles reversed.
The Mexican follows Sainz, giving the impression that on the track where he has won twice he can find a decent performance, being able to count on an RB20 that seems improved.
Positive performance by Williams who put Alexander Albon in eighth place immediately followed by Franco Colapinto. The Argentinean was able to reset yesterday’s blow and moved to within a tenth of his teammate, showing great character. The top 10 is closed by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton who is not very comfortable with the W15.
Aston Martin is 11th with Fernando Alonso and 13th with Lance Stroll. Yuki Tsumoda has slipped in between the two greens with Racing Bulls. The team also counts on Daniel Ricciardo who is 14th, even if the Australian is far behind the Japanese.
Pierre Gasly defends himself as best he can with the Alpine: 15th place seems to be the limit of the Enstone car, but it is enough for the Frenchman to stay ahead of Nico Hulkenberg with the Haas. Bad for the Saubers: when things start to get serious they always end up at the back of the group with Valtteri Bottas faster than the missing Guanyu Zhou.
Two red flags interrupted the session: ten minutes were lost to recover the Alpine of Esteban Ocon who saw his Alpine switch off due to a problem with the Renault power unit that goes hand in hand with the stop in the first free practice session. The difficult moment continues for the Enstone team.
The second interruption came due to Oliver Bearman who made a serious error of judgment at turn 1: the Englishman realized that he would not be able to turn at the first bend and tried to slip into the escape road. However, the decision was late and the young FDA rider was no longer able to avoid a scrape against the protections on the left side, a contact that cost him damage to the front left suspension. Both ended up at the bottom of the table without a time. Shame for Ollie who ruined what was an excellent weekend.
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