Australian Grand Prix FP3: Piastri tops, Verstappen bounces back
F1 NewsSaturday, 15 March 2025 at 03:37
Oscar Piastri set the pace at the end of the final practice session for the 2025 Australian Grand setting the scene for what is expected to be a close qualifying.
Piastri was fastest with a lap time of 1:15.921 and was just 0.039s faster than George Russell in the Mercedes, while reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen was third fastest, 0.081s down on the Aussie.
Liam Lawson dropped out of the session early on after suffering from a power unit issue on his RB21.
Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest in the Ferrari, 0.267s off Piastri's time and less than a tenth ahead of Kimi Antonelli who was fifth in the second Mercedes.
Ferrari seemed to have dropped back while Mercedes and Red Bull improved.
Williams continued to enjoy their strong form with Carlos Sainz finishing the session in sixth, over three tenths off the pace as his teammate Alex Albon was just 0.006s behind in seventh.
Lewis Hamilton seemed to be closer to Leclerc at some point but he ended the session down in eighth over four tenths slower than Piastri and less than two tenths slower than his teammate.
Yuki Tsunoda was ninth ahead of Lando Norris who was tenth in the second McLaren, a very unrepresentative time for the Briton who was setting purple sectors on his final qualifying simulation before backing off which means there is more pace in there for the #4 Papaya car.
Norris was ultimately over six tenth slower than Piastri.
Oliver Bearman had another horrid session after missing FP2 and spun in the opening minutes of the final practice and was stuck in the gravel and could not continue which compounded matters for Haas who had a disappointing session as their other driver, Esteban Ocon was down in 18th.
But we can look forward to having quite an intense and close first qualifying session at the start of the 2025 season based on how FP3 ended.
Buildup towards FP3
The first day of running for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix left us wanting more and while it was clear McLaren are favorites, Norris insisted on playing down his chances claiming his car needs more work.
Ferrari, in Leclerc's hands, emerged as the main challenger for McLaren while Hamilton continues his acclimatization process in his new team.
Mercedes were not as convincing as they were in Bahrain but the big question mark remains Red Bull. Verstappen insisted the balance was ok but just lacked pace and grip, so there is work to be done on the RB21.
What of Williams? They are showing improvement but is it showboating or genuine pace? Both Sainz and Albon were upbeat about their day...
The Racing Bulls were also in decent shape while Haas has a terrible day especially with Bearman's crash in FP1 as they fight with Sauber to avoid being the slowest team on the grid.
It was a challenging day for the rookies as well with Antonelli and Bortoleto in particular not having a good day, so how will get ready for qualifying?
A lot to look out for as we head into the final practice session this weekend in Melbourne as qualifying will follow.
FP3 Session Highlights
Track temperatures were similar to FP1 with 40 degrees Celsius but the air temperature increased compared to Friday up to 30 degrees.
After missing FP2, Bearman was eager to start FP3 as he was the first driver waiting at the pit exit to try and make up for the missed running time on Friday.
The other driver not messing around was Hamilton who soon followed the Haas rookie out on track. Both McLarens, Racings Bulls and the second Ferrari with Leclerc followed.
With less than five minutes gone, Bearman brought out the Red flag as he beached his Haas in the gravel at Turn 11. Session over for the rookie as his nightmare of a weekend continued.
Running over for the Briton, but at least his car remained in one piece this time around. Replay showed Bearman dropped a wheel in the grass and lost the rear of his car.
The session was resumed with a little under 50 minutes remaining on the clock after Bearman's Haas was cleared from the track.
Worth noting that all three tyre compounds were on show at the start of FP3. McLaren went for the Hard tyre while Ferrari and Aston Martin chose the mediums as Alpine have gone straight onto the softs. Lawson and Verstappen were also on the softs for Red Bull,
Lawson radioed in asking about lack of power, the team asked him to box. He asked his engineer if the issue was major but the answer was: "Just come back to the pit lane."
The Kiwi returned to the pits and the Red Bull mechanics were straight down to business trying to diagnose the problem.
Doohan locked up going into Turn 3 and went wide while Sainz asked his team to check the left side of his car touching the wall.
Norris had a moment in Turn 6, brushing the gravel while he was on a flying lap on Soft tyres.
Down at Red Bull, Lawson's car was up on the stands and he was out of the car, session over. The team explained: "The current issue on car 30 is a PU or PU system problem on the air side. We are working to find the problem."
The final ten minutes of the session saw the drivers banging in the laps on the Soft tyres with some qualifying runs as they set their sights on qualifying.
Replay showed Verstappen running wide on the kerbs at the exit of Turn 11 while Leclerc complained about his Ferrari being "oversteery".
Hamilton ran wide while on a flying lap at the exit of Turn 1. Alonso went deep after locking up going into Turn 3.
The session was concluded with practice session.
Australian Grand Prix FP3 Classification
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