Russell Takes Baku Pole After Verstappen Tops FP3

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice order changed at the front without producing a clear favourite. George Russell topped both Thursday sessions, then Max Verstappen edged him in Friday’s final practice by 0.099 seconds. Lewis Hamilton was only 0.012 seconds further back, setting up a tight qualifying picture on Baku’s unforgiving street circuit.

Russell made the strongest start

Russell opened the weekend with a 1:45.387 in FP1, 0.400 seconds clear of Verstappen. Charles Leclerc was third, with Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli completing the top five. The lap was an early reference rather than a forecast: the circuit was still evolving, and traffic, tyre preparation and a clean passage through the narrow old-city section all had room to move the order.

The first hour was also a reliability check. Antonelli stopped with a hydraulic problem and missed a significant part of the session. Carlos Sainz had a brake fire, while Nico Hülkenberg also pulled up. Each interruption reduced the time available to gather consistent data, particularly for teams trying to compare a qualifying lap with the longer runs that matter over a full race stint.

Mercedes stayed on top in FP2

Russell lowered the benchmark to 1:43.347 in the second session. Antonelli returned to finish second, 0.552 seconds behind, and Verstappen was third at 0.827 seconds. Leclerc and Hamilton followed. The order gave Mercedes a one-two, though the gap between the leading cars was still small beside the variation teams can create through tyre age and fuel load.

FP2 did not provide an uninterrupted long-run comparison. Arvid Lindblad’s crash brought out a red flag, and Oliver Bearman stopped with an engine problem. Teams lost time that would normally help them understand how the tyres behave over several laps and how much pace remains when the track temperature and grip change.

Verstappen takes the FP3 benchmark

Verstappen set a 1:43.922 in the final practice session. Russell was 0.099 seconds back, Hamilton 0.111 seconds back, Antonelli fourth and Leclerc fifth. Three manufacturers were represented across the top five, and the front three were covered by little more than a tenth. The result makes the first qualifying runs especially important: a driver who finds a clean lap early can avoid the traffic that builds when the field converges on the same final minutes.

The session also ended early for Lance Stroll after he hit the wall. Gusts, dust and leaves affected the circuit, adding uncertainty to braking references and grip. Baku’s long full-throttle sections create overtaking opportunities, while the tight sequence near the old city leaves little margin for a car that arrives offline or locks a front tyre.

What practice can and cannot tell us

Russell leaves practice with the most consistent pace across sessions. Verstappen owns the fastest single lap, and Hamilton’s FP3 time keeps Mercedes’ lead from looking settled. Those are useful signals, but practice times do not reveal fuel levels, tyre plans or the amount of risk a driver was prepared to take. The teams will use their own long-run data alongside the headline order.

Russell turns the pace into pole

Russell converted a strong practice weekend into pole with a 1:42.526 lap in Q3. Charles Leclerc qualified second at 1:43.363, with Oscar Piastri only 0.001 seconds behind in third. Russell’s margin over Leclerc was 0.837 seconds, a clear single-lap advantage after a practice order that had been much tighter at the front.

Verstappen qualified eighth after setting the fastest time in FP3. Antonelli was sixteenth after completing five laps in qualifying, with a best time of 1:45.504. He had already lost running through the hydraulic problem in FP1 and the power-unit change before FP2. The final practice and qualifying orders give Mercedes a pole position at one end of the garage and a recovery job at the other.

The Grand Prix is scheduled for Saturday, 26 September. Russell will start from pole, with Leclerc and Piastri alongside him in the leading three. The 51-lap race will show whether Mercedes can turn its one-lap pace into control over a full stint on Baku’s street circuit.