2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix FP3 Report: Max Verstappen Crashes Out as Lewis Hamilton goes Third Fastest

The final free practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix witnessed plenty of action. The session was interrupted numerous times and red-flagged once. However, the biggest headline grabber was the crash of Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen.

Sergio Perez, his Red Bull teammate, went fastest. There was some respite for Mercedes as well as Lewis Hamilton went third fastest and was less than half a second behind Perez. This will give Mercedes confidence.

Max Verstappen crashed out

The Red Bull driver was carrying too much throttle on the entry to turn 15. He clipped his car over the yellow sausage kerb and lost control. His car then rammed into the barriers and even though he reserved his car and looked to drive his car into the pits, he couldn’t do it.

It was probably because of a broken front suspension. This brought out the red flags. Charles Leclerc similarly crashed yesterday during the morning session at turn 15. However, unlike Max, he was fortunate enough to drive his Ferrari F1 car out to the pits with just front wing damage.

Watch Story: 5 F1 Crashes Which Stunned the World

So, is he under threat to miss the qualifying session now? His mechanics will be racing against time to repair his car back to 100% with qualifying just a couple of hours away.

George Russell’s engine stalled

The Williams car of George Russell was blighted with electrical problems. With just 10 minutes to go into the session, he reported to his race engineer about the failure.

Max was confident before the race

The Flying Dutchman expressed his desire to be the best driver on the F1 grid. Or at least that’s the mentality that he has – “A racing car has a steering wheel and two pedals. That’s what you can control. As a driver, you always have to believe that you are the best.”

For now, he will be crossing his fingers that his mechanics repair his car in time.

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