Lando Norris topped the final practice session ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in a display of McLaren dominance.

Oscar Piastri was the only driver to get close to Norris, forced to settle for P2 in the sister McLaren, while Max Verstappen found himself strangely irked by Lewis Hamilton in the run-off.

Lando Norris tops Saudi GP FP2: Can McLaren be stopped?

Ahead of qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the drivers had one final hour of practice at their disposal to get their set-ups fine-tuned and their plans in order.

Gabriel Bortoleto was looking to make up for lost time with a new Sauber chassis, after missing FP2 on Friday, and clocked a 1:32.1 on the mediums for the pack to chase.

All the while, George Russell was still tucking into a snack in the Mercedes garage, in what proved a quiet start to the session on-track.

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The Ferraris were the first of the big-hitters to join the leaderboard, but with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc seven-tenths off new leader Jack Doohan, there was more time to come.

Piastri would soon go half-a-second clear out front with a 1:29.118, as Norris slotted into P2 less than a tenth behind his McLaren team-mate.

Oliver Bearman improved to P3 for Haas as he reported that the “front axle is much stronger than yesterday”, while Doohan would be required to report to the stewards post-session for a potential failure to follow the race director’s instructions via a pit-lane infringement.

Verstappen meanwhile hit the ground running as he took over top spot, four-hundredths up on Piastri, with 20 minutes gone in the session.

Make that Leclerc P1 and Piastri again, as the track began to ramp up.

“Thanks for the car guys,” was Tsunoda’s radio message as he returned to the track after crashing at the final corner late in FP2.

As the session ticked past halfway, Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc and Tsunoda was the top five.

Behind the McLarens the order continued to shift, but Piastri’s 1:28.470 was keeping him out of reach, with Norris maintaining a grasp on P2.

A lull in the action followed, before a new set of soft Pirellis were widely locked and loaded ready for a final flurry of push laps.

And McLaren made a fresh, impactful statement! Piastri moved up to a 1:27.513, Norris lapped 0.158s shy, and Russell slotted into P3, a whopping seven-tenths down on Piastri.

Verstappen meanwhile reported “weird engine braking” as he fell nine-tenths shy of Piastri, and took issue with a “ridiculous” Ferrari driven by Hamilton who had taken to the run-off as Verstappen approached.

“Jeez” meanwhile was Hamilton’s word for the day on team radio, as he was told the eye-watering deficits he had to make up. He was 1.7 seconds off Piastri’s pace and eight-tenths off Leclerc. He reduced that to 1.3s off Piastri.

But there was a late sting in the tail as Norris snatched top spot from his team-mate, a 1:27.489 enough to see off Piastri by two-hundredths.

Russell, Verstappen and Leclerc completed the new and final top five, while Piastri survived a late whack of the wall at Turn 4/5.

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Full FP3 timesheet to follow…