Bottas ends FP3 on top as Mercedes bounce back

Valtteri Bottas ended the final practice on top, ending Red Bull's Friday streak. The energy drink team struggled in today's session, with Max Verstappen clambering out of his car with ten minutes to go.

Bottas set a lap time of 1:42.742, the fastest time of the weekend. His time was slightly aided by the Force India of Esteban Ocon, as the Frenchman involuntarily provided a slipstream down the 2.2-kilometre start/finish straight.

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It was an all Finnish one-two as Kimi Raikkonen slotted into second place. His time was less than a tenth behind the Silver Arrow, suggesting there is a real fight on today between Ferrari and Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel had an issue with his car in the garage, and couldn't complete an ultimate fast lap.

Lewis Hamilton was third on the time sheets, four-tenths of a second behind teammate Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo set Red Bull's fastest time and ended practice in fourth. However, Red Bull's deficit to Mercedes was over half a second.

Esteban Ocon appears to have no problems driving on a track that he is still learning, with the Frenchman settling into fifth. He was ahead of Max Verstappen who was complaining of engine problems throughout the one hour of running. He was eventually forced to pull trackside and will be hoping that the issue can be quickly resolved.

Problems for VER ? "Everything just switched off" he says as he parks up at Turn 16 ___Escaped_link_6987ada447cc5___ ?? ___Escaped_link_6987ada447cc7___ pic.twitter.com/qwGsKJKt3D
— Formula 1 (@F1) ___Escaped_link_6987ada447cc9___

Both Williams cars snuck into the top 10, with Felipe Massa setting the sixth fastest time. His teammate Lance Stroll was ninth, three-tenths of a second behind the Brazilian. Massa stated after yesterday's running that Stroll is driving with new found confidence after claiming his first points finish last time out in Canada.

Daniil Kvyat showed that his Toro Rosso has pace around the streets of Baku, ending the session in eighth place. The second Force India of Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten, seven-tenths of a second down on teammate Ocon.

There was more misery for Jolyon Palmer. The Brit was only beginning his run when his car caught fire. Amid the speculation about his future, a lack of laps under his belt heading into qualifying is not what he needs.

? "Stop the car, stop the car"

Agony for @JolyonPalmer as his engine catches fire #AzerbaijanGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZAMWnCNRmK
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 24, 2017