Valtteri Bottas put Mercedes back in charge in Baku, setting the fastest time in FP3 before this afternoon's highly-anticipated qualifying session.
The German outfit ran at the front of the pack for most of the one-hour session, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen splitting the Silver Arrows at the end.
Bottas clocked in with a 1:42.742, just edging out his fellow countryman who enjoyed a 1:42.837 lap. Hamilton was third with 1:43.158.
Red Bull partly sustained its Friday momentum, remaining in the hunt for pole with Daniel Ricciardo in fourth place, just a tenth behind Hamilton.
Force India's Esteban Ocon was an unassuming fifth, just ahead of Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman's session ended early following an engine issue. The Red Bull driver complained at one point about a power cut-out to which his engineer responded with a settings change.
To no avail unfortunately as Verstappen eventually pulled off the track with ten minutes remaining.
A loss of hydraulic pressure also sidelined Sebastian Vettel early on but Ferrari was not expecting the problem to persist in the all-important qualy.
It was another wretched session for Renault's Jolyon Palmer when his car developed a fire early on, forcing him out of free practice.
Massa, Kvyat, Stroll and Perez rounded off the top ten.
Free practice 3 results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:42.742s | 21 | |
| 2 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:42.837s | + 0.095s | 14 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:43.158s | + 0.416s | 23 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:43.287s | + 0.545s | 24 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1:43.344s | + 0.602s | 21 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:43.614s | + 0.872s | 16 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:43.738s | + 0.996s | 18 |
| 8 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:43.908s | + 1.166s | 21 |
| 9 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1:44.040s | + 1.298s | 17 |
| 10 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:44.138s | + 1.396s | 22 |
| 11 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:44.312s | + 1.570s | 16 |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:44.344s | + 1.602s | 7 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:44.401s | + 1.659s | 23 |
| 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:44.741s | + 1.999s | 18 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:44.926s | + 2.184s | 20 |
| 16 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:45.143s | + 2.401s | 17 |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:45.491s | + 2.749s | 20 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:45.645s | + 2.903s | 21 |
| 19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1:45.722s | + 2.980s | 19 |
| 20 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:53.040s | + 10.298s | 4 |
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