Sergio Perez leads late TL3 in Baku

Red Bull's Sergio Perez narrowly beat Ferrari's Charles Leclerc during final free practice for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan GP. Perez set a time of 1min43s170 on soft tires to finish just 0s070s behind Leclerc on the streets of Baku.

Defending champion Max Verstappen, who abandoned his first lap after Valtteri Bottas got away at turn 3, finished third overall. The Red Bull driver had set the fastest time in the first sector on another lap, but had to back off after meeting Fernando Alonso at turn 12.

Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari, ahead of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, showing improved speed after Friday's difficulties.

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly finished seventh, while Mercedes continued to underperform overall. George Russell qualified eighth, 1s4 off the pace, while Lewis Hamilton was a few tenths behind in 12th place.

Both drivers complained about a lack of rear end, while Mercedes informed Hamilton that his engine had been shut down in stages due to a lack of available mileage. Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were 9th and 11th respectively for Alpine, set apart by Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel.

There was a 15-minute delay to the start of the session while repairs were carried out to the barriers at turn 1 following an accident in the previous Formula 2 race.

The session lasted an hour, which means that according to article 39 of the regulations - which states that there must be a two-hour window between the end of practice and the start of Q1 - qualifying will now start 15 minutes later than originally scheduled.

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