F1 Australian GP: Piastri quickest from Russell in FP3 as Bearman crashes again

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri topped a convoluted final practice for Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix ahead of George Russell and Max Verstappen, where Oliver Bearman crashed out again for Haas.

Under overcast skies at Albert Park, several frontrunners had headed out on the hard tyres before Bearman’s immediate incident, but when the one-hour session resumed with just 11 minutes gone they waited a little longer and then returned on the softs.

Esteban Ocon and Jack Doohan had short initial spells at the top of the times, before Verstappen shot ahead with a 1m17.632s as the Red Bull looked much improved early compared to Friday’s running.

Piastri then nipped to the top on a 1m17.298s before Verstappen edged much further clear with a 1m16.646s on his second run after 24 minutes.

This stood as the benchmark for over 10 minutes – as his rivals could not go quicker on their subsequent early efforts. But on Verstappen’s third run he suffered a rear slide at Turn 12, which suggested the RB21’s knife-edge handling remains a factor.

With just over 20 minutes to go, Russell toppled Verstappen with a 1m16.402s before Lando Norris came through to sit second with a lap that featured a big gravel strike exiting Turn 6.

Verstappen then used another new set of softs to shoot back to the top of the times with a 1m16.002s.

While Verstappen returned to the pits, Piastri used the same set of softs to get ahead on a 1m15.921s with just eight minutes remaining – after Norris had backed out of a lap due to a slide in dirty air from traffic at the penultimate corner.

As the clock ticked down, Verstappen abandoned a lap that looked to be going close with Piastri as he slid wildly exiting Turn 12 – albeit while running used softs at this stage, where Russell then squeezed between Piastri and the world champion.

He ended up 0.039s off the top spot, with the top three covered by just 0.081s.

FP2 leader Charles Leclerc finally got Ferrari up the order late on after going close midway through – as he complained about oversteer that was robbing him of confidence – and he failed to go any quicker with a second attempt on his final set of softs as the chequered flag flew.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fifth ahead of Williams pair Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda, while Norris ended up rounding out the top 10 in the other McLaren.

Bearman spun off on his first flying lap after missing all of FP2 as a result of his FP1 shunt at Turn 10, with his off occurring one further corner on at Turn 11. The Briton put his left-side wheels on the grass and speared off backwards – getting beached in the gravel and unable to take any further part in the session.

Liam Lawson also missed most of FP3 as a pneumatic air issue on his engine struck on his first flying lap and he had to return to the pits from where he did not re-emerge.

F1 Australian GP – FP3 results

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Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	16	1’15.921			250.270
2	G. RussellMercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	17	+0.039 1’15.960	0.039		250.142
3	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	18	+0.081 1’16.002	0.042		250.003
4	C. LeclercFerrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	22	+0.267 1’16.188	0.186		249.393
5	A. AntonelliMercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	20	+0.285 1’16.206	0.018		249.334
6	C. SainzWilliams	55		Williams	Mercedes	23	+0.331 1’16.252	0.046		249.184
7	A. AlbonWilliams	23		Williams	Mercedes	21	+0.337 1’16.258	0.006		249.164
8	L. HamiltonFerrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	21	+0.457 1’16.378	0.120		248.773
9	Y. TsunodaRacing Bulls	22		RB	Honda	17	+0.534 1’16.455	0.077		248.522
10	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	20	+0.676 1’16.597	0.142		248.061
11	G. BortoletoSauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	18	+0.786 1’16.707	0.110		247.706
12	P. GaslyAlpine	10		Alpine	Renault	22	+0.798 1’16.719	0.012		247.667
13	I. HadjarRacing Bulls	6		RB	Honda	18	+0.811 1’16.732	0.013		247.625
14	L. StrollAston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	22	+1.027 1’16.948	0.216		246.930
15	J. DoohanAlpine	7		Alpine	Renault	18	+1.072 1’16.993	0.045		246.786
16	N. HulkenbergSauber	27		Sauber	Ferrari	15	+1.225 1’17.146	0.153		246.296
17	F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	22	+1.349 1’17.270	0.124		245.901
18	E. OconHaas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	18	+1.452 1’17.373	0.103		245.574
19	O. BearmanHaas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	2
20	L. LawsonRed Bull Racing	30		Red Bull	Red Bull	2
View full results