Max Verstappen thwarted George Russell's bid for a clean sweep of the fastest practice times, as Red Bull reignited a fresh challenge to the Mercedes pair ahead of Friday's qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The final practice session in Baku was marked by increasingly gusty, unpredictable winds that swept across the street circuit, turning the already demanding layout into a true test of driver skill and car stability.
The breezy conditions caused a spate of off‑track excursions, with several drivers losing grip and briefly leaving the racing line as they struggled to keep their cars under control. Mercedes had enjoyed a dominant showing on Thursday when the weather was calmer, and that early advantage seemed to carry over into the opening minutes of Friday's session.
However, as the wind picked up, Verstappen began to extract more performance from his Red Bull on the soft tyre compound. He steadily lowered his lap times, and eventually posted a best lap of 1:43.922, a time that nudged him ahead of Russell and placed him at the top of the timesheet. Russell, who had come close to clipping the barriers at Turn Seven after a straight‑line run‑off, finished just 0.099 seconds behind Verstappen in second place.
His near‑miss highlighted how the shifting wind gusts could turn a routine lap into a high‑risk endeavour, especially on the narrow, wall‑flanked sections of the Baku circuit. Further down the order, Ferrari struggled to keep pace with the leading duo for most of the hour. Yet on his final lap, Lewis Hamilton managed to climb into third place, ending the session only 0.111 seconds shy of Verstappen's benchmark.
Hamilton’s late‑session surge was aided by a powerful tow from a line of cars on the long pit straight, which gave him an extra burst of straight‑line speed at a crucial moment. Both the aerodynamic tow and the ever‑changing wind are expected to play pivotal roles in the upcoming qualifying, which is slated to begin at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event.
Sky Sports F1 analyst David Croft remarked, “The weather has given us the possibility of an absolutely fascinating and dramatic qualifying to come. These are not easy conditions out there by any stretch of the imagination.” Kimi Antonelli, who leads Russell by 81 points in the drivers’ championship, recorded the fourth‑fastest time, edging out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who occupied the fifth spot. Both drivers experienced brief off‑track moments, underscoring how the wind was affecting even the most experienced pilots.
Three weeks after his stunning pole at the high‑speed Monza circuit, Pierre Gasly delivered a solid performance for Alpine, posting the sixth‑fastest time and outpacing the McLaren pair. Despite McLaren bringing a substantial aerodynamic upgrade to Baku, Lando Norris had already signaled on Thursday that the reigning world champions were unlikely to fight for pole, a prediction that appeared to hold true as the team fell roughly 0.8 seconds off the leading pace. Oscar Piastri managed to secure seventh place, with Norris just behind him, while Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, returning from a three‑race layoff due to a wrist injury, found himself further down the order as he worked to regain full confidence in the car. In the midfield, Franco Colapinto placed tenth in the second Alpine, narrowly ahead of Carlos Sainz, who drove a heavily revised Williams that showed promising signs of improvement on Friday morning.
The Williams team appears to be targeting a stronger presence in the congested upper‑midfield battle as the season progresses. Lance Stroll’s session was cut short after he clipped the inside wall at Turn One, resulting in a brief stop in the run‑off area; he completed only nine laps in total. The weekend schedule continues with a packed program of support races and qualifying events.
On Friday, the F2 Feature Race 1 will kick off at 11:10 a.m., followed by the Azerbaijan GP qualifying build‑up at 12:30 p.m., and the main qualifying session at 1 p.m. Additional coverage, including Ted’s Qualifying Notebook, will be available at 3 p.m. Saturday brings the second F2 Feature Race at 7:55 a.m., a Grand Prix build‑up at 10:30 a.m., the race itself at noon, and post‑race analysis later in the afternoon. All sessions will be streamed live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event, with the option to watch via the NOW platform without a long‑term contract, allowing viewers to cancel at any time.
Overall, the final practice in Baku highlighted how the combination of gusty winds, tight street‑circuit walls, and strategic use of aerodynamic tow can dramatically reshape the competitive landscape. Verstappen’s ability to adapt quickly and find extra grip on the soft tyres gave him the edge over Russell, while Hamilton’s late‑session push demonstrated that even a small advantage—such as a well‑timed tow—can shave off crucial tenths of a second. As the drivers head into qualifying, the ever‑changing weather will continue to test their skill, their teams’ setup choices, and their capacity to extract maximum performance from their machines under challenging conditions.