DISPLAY: Qualifying live on Sky!
Don’t worry: Even if qualifying starts a little later today, you can of course follow the session live on Sky! Only there you can get all sessions live this year and all races without commercial breaks.
The best technical photos…
… is again available this weekend in a separate photo series. Click through!
Photo gallery: Formula 1 technology: detailed photos at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2022
FT3: Closing time!
That was it with FT3, nothing has changed at the top. So the best time goes to Perez ahead of Leclerc, who ended up having to go through the emergency exit again in turn 15. Verstappen, Sainz and the two McLaren drivers follow.
Incidentally, Verstappen was on course for the best time at the end, but then had traffic. Hamilton only ended the session in P12, although his engine was turned down. Mercedes has to conserve the unit. So not representative.
Vettel lands on P10, Schumacher on P18. Qualifying continues in two hours. Before that, as usual, the FT3 overview:
result
FT3: New best time
Small surprise: Not Leclerc or Verstappen are responsible for the new best time this weekend – but Perez! With a 1:43.170, the Mexican jumps ahead of the Monegasque and his teammates.
But let’s wait and see if anything else comes up. Norris and Ricciardo have moved up to P5 and P6 behind Sainz. Has McLaren found something here or is it countered again there?
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
FT3: final phase
Meanwhile, the last 20 minutes have started on the track – and without any major incidents. Leclerc is currently leading with a 1:43.514 in front of the two Red Bull drivers and his teammate Sainz.
But the fastest laps are yet to come. Hopefully also from Schumacher, who is currently 20th and last…
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
New MGU-K for Magnussen
The Dane received his third MGU-K this year – and has thus reached the maximum allowed. Alonso already picked up his first engine penalty this year in Barcelona.
And the next seems only a matter of time, as more than half of the drivers are on at least one component already reached the allowed maximum.
Qualifying later?
The rules state that there must be two hours between the end of FT3 and the start of qualifying. Now we have a problem because FT3 won’t end until 2:15pm due to the delay.
This means that qualifying should not start until 4:15 p.m. An unusual case, because FT3 is usually started normally when there is a delay, but the route is not released.
This means that the clock is still ticking and the session ends on time. But that wasn’t the case this time.
FT3: times
As a reminder, yesterday Leclerc was the fastest man with a 1:43.224. We are still a long way from those times. The Monegasse currently leads with a 1:45.260. The fastest laps will come later.
After all, 16 drivers have already been on the track at least once. We are still waiting for Verstappen, Norris, Albon and Ocon.
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
McLaren: Seidl calls for a further step
“We definitely have to take another step today,” says the McLaren team boss at “Sky” and explains: “We weren’t very happy with the balance of the car yesterday. We lost a lot of time, especially in the third sector on the long straights.”
“So we made a few adjustments to the car overnight. And I hope that we can still find a bit of performance so that we can definitely fight for Q3,” said Seidl.
However, we have not yet seen a McLaren driver on the track in FT3.
FT3: Session is running
The session started 15 minutes late. However, the pilots are initially holding back. We know that from FT3, in this session usually hardly anyone goes on the track at the beginning.
Only the six Mercedes, Haas and Aston Martin drivers are currently providing action. But don’t worry: it will of course get even fuller.
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
Marko: Faster than Ferrari in racing trim
We use the delay to quickly get a vote from the Red Bull camp. Helmut Marko reveals on ‘ServusTV’: “All the analyzes show that we are a bit faster with full tanks, i.e. in race trim.”
Although Ferrari is a bit ahead on a lap, Marko reminds: “Baku is not like Monte Carlo. It’s nice to be in front, but it’s not a serious disadvantage [hinten zu starten].”
FT3: Start at 3:15 p.m
Here comes the information: It’s supposed to start at 3:15 p.m. local time. By the way, the teams will then get the full 60 minutes. As is well known, if there is a red flag during the session, the clock continues to run during training.
Because the training hasn’t even started yet, there’s the full hour right away.
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
FT3: delay
It’s not starting yet. In the Formula 2 race, it crashed a little harder at the end, and part of the track boundary was damaged. That still needs to be fixed. We still don’t have any information on when exactly it should start.
Call up all current information in the session live ticker!
FT3: It’s about to start!
With that, we are slowly shifting our focus to what is happening on the track, where the third practice session begins in ten minutes. Here at this point you will find the most important information, pictures and voices.
You can get the complete coverage in our session ticker with Stefan Ehlen. So it’s best to just let both tickers run in parallel as usual!
Binotto: Nothing against Red Bull …
The Ferrari team boss has made it clear that the protest in Monaco was not directed against Red Bull. “It was nothing against Red Bull. I honestly think it’s a fair fight between the two teams at the moment,” said the Italian.
“It was more about showing the FIA that we are currently dissatisfied with the decisions they are making,” said Binotto, who complained about the lack of consistency in decisions this season.
Formula 1 before returning to South Africa?
That reports at least the British ‘Sun’. Formula 1 officials are said to be in “advanced talks” regarding a Kyalami comeback.
On the one hand, a comeback in South Africa would of course be a great thing. On the other hand, you have to ask yourself how big the calendar should be.
As a reminder, it is already certain that Las Vegas will be held for the first time in 2023. The races in Qatar and China should return.
If Kyalami is then also to be put back on the calendar, numerous races would either have to be canceled – or the calendar would have to be inflated even further…