George Russell ended the third and final practice session of the Australian Grand Prix on top, the Mercedes driver going fastest in a disrupted hour that saw his team mate Kimi Antonelli suffer a hefty crash.
Following a slightly delayed start due to barrier repair works after an earlier collision in the F3 Sprint Race, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto led a group of cars out onto the track – including Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso – when the session began at 1250 local time.
A mixture of tyre compounds were at play as the initial laps went on the board amongst those out on the circuit, with several drivers remaining in the garage. There was early trouble, meanwhile, for Carlos Sainz, whose Williams came to a halt near the pit entry, leading to the yellow flags being waved before a Virtual Safety Car was deployed.
The session was subsequently red-flagged as the stricken FW48 was recovered, while Sainz was seen walking back down the pit lane. A queue formed in the pit lane ahead of the action resuming once the vehicle had been safely removed, a stream of cars heading out as 38 minutes remained on the clock.
This made for a busy track as the majority of the field put some mileage in, with Lance Stroll the only driver yet to make an appearance in the hour due to a power unit issue causing a delay to the rebuild of his Aston Martin.
As the disrupted FP3 reached its halfway point, Charles Leclerc had gone fastest on a 1m 20.271s, the Ferrari man dislodging Mercedes’ Antonelli at the top by 0.053s, while Hamilton followed in third.
The times continued to tumble as many cars completed soft tyre runs, with Hamilton going on to beat his team mate to top spot by just under one tenth. Elsewhere, the yellow flags were briefly waved as Alex Albon started to run slowly before getting his Williams going again.
While McLaren’s Oscar Piastri dislodged the Ferraris at the head of the timesheets, Leclerc went on to return to P1, the lap times getting even quicker as the clock ticked down. Aston Martin, meanwhile, confirmed that Stroll would not participate in the session due to a suspected ICE issue.
A number of cars bolted on a fresh set of soft tyres during the final quarter of third practice, before the red flags were thrown when Antonelli suffered a heavy crash at Turn 2, the Mercedes driver taking slightly too much kerb and losing the rear of the W17.
After fortunately reporting that he was okay, Antonelli got out of the car as the clean-up operation began on track, the marshals recovering the car and clearing the debris while the Italian returned to his team’s garage.
With just under four minutes left on clock when the session resumed, a busy end to FP3 ensued as cars fought to secure a position in the pit lane queue before heading out for their final runs. Lando Norris was at the front of the pack, the McLaren man moving up to fifth – before Russell pushed him down a position by going fastest of all by a significant 0.774s from Leclerc.
Russell’s effort of 1m 19.053s remained on top as the chequered flag fell, while Hamilton moved up into second place, albeit still 0.616s behind his former team mate. Leclerc placed third, ahead of Piastri and the Red Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen.
Antonelli ended the hour in seventh – amid question marks over whether his car will be repaired in time for Qualifying – while Norris, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and the Haas of Ollie Bearman completed the top 10.
Rookie Arvid Lindblad continued his impressive form so far in 11th for Racing Bulls, from team mate Liam Lawson, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Colapinto. Albon was 17th in a tricky outing for Williams, while Alonso recorded a decent 18 laps for Aston Martin.
The Cadillac duo of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez were 19th and 20th, with Sainz winding up in 21st, having been unable to return to action following his stoppage, and Stroll did not run in the session due to a suspected ICE issue.
With the final practice hour complete, the attentions of the paddock will switch to the first Qualifying session of 2026, which is set to get underway at 1600 local time.
