Sebastian Vettel topped the third practise session for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, leading rival Lewis Hamilton by 0.4 of a second.
Vettel beat the early fastest times set by Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, but his time of 1:43.091 is still below that of last year’s pole time.
Mercedes appeared to initially struggle to be on the pace but Hamilton went on to split the times of the Ferraris and fastest man in first practice Valtteri Bottas finished with the fifth fastest time of the morning.
Max Verstappen made the most of the scramble to get a good lap in when with only minutes to go Sergey Sirotkin put his Williams in the wall, leaving only time for a single flying lap after the end of the red flag period, and sits fourth fastest.
Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen were sixth and seventh fastest, the Mexican ahead by only 0.02 of a second.
Lance Stroll was eighth for Williams despite an off early on in the session as well as struggling with cooling issues.
Estaban Ocon and Sergey Sirotkin finished ninth and tenth despite the latter’s crash, meaning that both Force India and Williams got two cars in the top 10.
Ricciardo could only manage 12th after being unable to get in laps on his fresh ultra-softs, with Red Bull most affected by the late red flag.
