Lando Norris back on top ahead of Max Verstappen as blustery Baku creates havoc

Lando Norris highlighted that he will be the driver to beat in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

After breaking the left-rear suspension of his McLaren in second practice on Friday, and missing key runs over the final half-hour, Norris set the quickest time of the weekend to date at the Baku Street Circuit with a lap of 1:41.223s.

The Briton, hunting team-mate Oscar Piastri in the drivers' championship, finished a comfortable quarter of a second clear of a trio of drivers, spearheaded by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, then Piastri, and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.

Times tumble

Although the weather was fine, with warm temperatures under clear blue skies, the main difference for the drivers, compared to Friday, was the strong wind, reaching 30kph at times, and it played its part throughout the session, with all the drivers forced to combat the conditions.

It was five minutes before the first cars hit the track, initially Oliver Bearman in his Haas and Racing Bulls Liam Lawson, and then only on the hard tyres as the teams were in tyre-saving mode with mediums and softs available for qualifying.

An installation lap from Isack Hadjar in the other Racing Bulls saw him become the first to complain about the wind, claiming it was trying to push him to one side as he drove along the main straight.

Whilst Lawson and Hadjar returned to the garage for one installation lap, Bearman toured around on his own for nearly 10 minutes, underlined by the fact that his main timed lap was 1:47.333s, before improving significantly to 1:45.724s.

Needing to make up for lost time after missing half of FP2, Norris took to the circuit a quarter of the way through the session. On the soft tyre, he finished marginally behind Bearman.

Of concern were his comments made when asked about the front wing, describing it as "sketchy everywhere...every corner feels worse, I would say".

Piastri, who failed to set a soft-tyre, low-fuel lap in FP2, briefly went top with a 1:44.817s, only to be beaten by Bearman, continuing on the hard compound as they increased in temperature, with the Briton posting a 1:44.850s.

Taking on a fresh set of softs, Norris then went top with a 1:43.640s, before being desposed by Leclerc by almost six-tenths of a second, albeit the Monégasque running considerably wide of the kerb at Turn 16. Surprisingly, the lap was not deleted.

On a more respective lap, Hamilton showed his hand for the first time, taking up the lead time from Leclerc with a 1:42.988s.

As the track rubbered in, the times started to tumble, with Piastri shaving a quarter of a second off Hamilton's lap before Leclerc posted a 1:42.354s, followed by Verstappen, just over two tenths down, and after posting the fastest middle sector.

A slight brush with a barrier meant Leclerc was unable to improve before Verstappen, on a second run, purpled the first two sectors en route to a leading 1:41.727s, yet still half a second off Hamilton's best on Friday.

With less than 13 minutes remaining, Alex Albon powered his way into second, a quarter of a second behind Verstappen, before Norris finally offered a reminder he is in the hunt with a near-perfect lap of 1:41.223, the best of the weekend to date.

On push laps of his own, Piastri made two separate errors, the second notably into Turn 1, forcing him to swivel round in the expansive run-off area.

Verstappen improved to within two-tenths of Norris, whilst Piastri finally managed to hook up a lap to leave him three-tenths adrift, whilst Hamilton slotted himself into third, 0.276s down. Piastri managed to sneak in one final lap to edge ahead of Hamilton late on.

Behind the leading quartet, Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli was the best of the rest, but 0.653s down, followed by team-mate George Russell, Albon, Bearman, Lawson, who endured a dramatic spin at the top of the main straight at one stage, and then a lowly Leclerc.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll propped up the timesheet, just over two seconds adrift.