Red Bull Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen headed Mercedes' George Russell by a tenth of a second in a busy final practice session for the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Thursday pacesetter Russell was the benchmark once again for much of FP3 in Baku, at one point heading Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by six tenths of a second.
But Verstappen gradually chipped away at his best time as the session moved towards its conclusion. Having been more than a second off with his first attempt on softs, he split the Mercedes on his next attempt, got within a tenth of Russell after that, and finally set the session's best time, a 1m43.922s, with a small slipstream assist from Charles Leclerc's Ferrari.
Verstappen had been on course to go faster still as the chequered flag fell, on what was his 11th lap on that set of soft tyres, but he locked up and took to the runoff at the tight Turn 15 left-hander for a second time in the session.
Nevertheless, Verstappen still topped an FP3 session for the first time this season, with Russell - who had a late lock-up of his own and just avoided skating into the barrier at the Turn 7 right-hander - 0.099s down in second.
Russell's Mercedes was one of three cars that Lewis Hamilton was able to gain a slipstream from along the main straight as he jumped to third at the end of the session. Hamilton had spent some time in the garage prior to that while Ferrari inspected his front-left brake.
Championship leader Antonelli ended up fourth, 0.351s down, with Leclerc six tenths back in fifth and Monza polesitter Pierre Gasly jumping up to sixth late on for Alpine.
The McLarens again were not in the picture. Oscar Piastri complained mid-session of having "very low confidence" into the first corner but he was the faster McLaren in seventh thanks to a tow, a tenth and a half ahead of team-mate Lando Norris.
Isack Hadjar was 1.2s off Red Bull team-mate Verstappen in ninth, without a tow assist and complaining of traffic, with Franco Colapinto making it two Alpines in the top 10 - just ahead of Williams's Carlos Sainz.
But the midfield pack looked particularly congested. Just half a second covered 10th down to 17th, with Cadillac's Sergio Perez again in that mix. He was 16th, 2.082s off the pace.
That meant Alex Albon (Williams) and both Racing Bulls drivers were in the bottom six, with Fernando Alonso a mildly encouraging 2.590s off the pace for Aston Martin in 20th.
Despite the wind picking up and a number of drivers missing apexes, Alonso's team-mate Lance Stroll had the only real incident of note when he clipped the pitwall through the first corner.
He initially thought that had caused a puncture but was then asked to stop the car and took to the runoff beyond the Turn 4 left-hander.
Results
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m43.922s
2 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.099s
3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.111s
4 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.351s
5 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.622s
6 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +0.715s
7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.824s
8 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.977s
9 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.254s
10 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.670s
11 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.683s
12 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.770s
13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.932s
14 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.996s
15 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +2.076s
16 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.082s
17 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.154s
18 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +2.300s
19 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.349s
20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +2.590s
21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +4.665s
22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +5.357s
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