Singapore GP FP3: Verstappen shows his hand, qualifying will be close
F1 NewsSaturday, 04 October 2025 at 12:35
Max Verstappen topped the final practice session for the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix with Oscar Piastri second fastest by the slightest of margins.
Verstappen posted a 1:30.148 to go fastest in the final practice session as the reigning Formula 1 Champion's RB21 seems to be genuinely improved so far with Qualifying later on being the confirmation.
Speaking of Qualifying, it will be a close affair as the top five in FP3 were within a tenth of a second with Piastri just 0.017s behind Verstappen.
George Russell, on the other hand, emerged as a contender by going third fastest in his Mercedes, 0.049s off the pace as his teammate Kimi Antonelli was 0.045s behind him in fourth.
Lando Norris was fifth fastest in the sister McLaren, 0.089s away from Verstappen's session-topping time further proving that the slightest of margins will have a huge impact on the outcome of qualifying.
Carlos Sainz, once again, showed strong pace and was sixth fastest in the Williams, 0.244s off the top time and ahead of another strong performer, Isack Hadjar, who was seventh for Racing Bulls, 0.097s behind the Spaniard.
Liam Lawson, in the other VCARB, crashed mid-session and brought out the Red Flag.
It was not a good session for Ferrari with Lewis Hamilton in eighth and Charles Leclerc in tenth as Nico Hulkenberg split the Reds in ninth.
Another disappointment was Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin who was down in 15th after failing to maintain the strong form he showed on Friday.
Buildup towards FP3
One thing all F1 teams and drivers agreed on after Friday's running in Singapore is that they head into the final practice and qualifying lacking the data they would've loved to accumulate.
FP1 ran in unrepresentative conditions but then FP2, which was supposed to be the best chance for teams and drivers to understand their cars, turned out to be a disrupted session with Red Flags, incidents, and traffic.
While we can hazard a guess as to who is in the running for pole, the clear picture is yet to emerge with FP3, running in day time, also not really useful as temperatures will be different.
McLaren are up there with Verstappen apparently hot on their heals as his RB21 is no longer a kangaroo, while Alonso in the Aston Martin may end up being the dark horse if they continue to display the pace they have enjoyed since hitting the Marina Bay Circuit on Friday.
Hadjar who has been in a good place so far this weekend may also be a driver to watch this weekend.
Ferrari remain a question mark as their form continued to fluctuate, strong in FP1, nowhere in FP2 while Mercedes do not seem to be in a good place right now.
It's the final practice so let's see how that unfolds.
FP3 Session Highlights
The session started in dry conditions with clouds over the Marina Bay as track temperatures were at 42 degrees Celsius while the air temperature was 31 degrees, finally reaching the FIA threshold for Heat Hazard conditions.
The drivers started heading out on track one after the other with Medium tyres on their cars as soon as the green light at the end of the pitlane. Ollie Bearman was the first to venture out.
And while drivers started some exploratory runs on Mediums, Sainz was the first to run the Soft tyre around 12 minutes into the session and went to the top. Alex Albon followed suit.
Franco Colapinto had a brief off-track moment as brake locking threw him into the run-off area.
Sainz on his warmup lap had a moment with a slow Norris on track almost running into the back of the McLaren at Turn 11.
But then, with 45 minutes remaining, the Red Flag was out again and it was Lawson who caused it, as he took too much kerb in Turn 7 lifting the car up, the rear stepping out and he ended up in the wall, the right side of his car is demolished.
That was Lawson's second crash this weekend. He said over the radio: "I don't know what happened."
The session was restarted after Lawson's VCARB was cleared from the track with a little over 35 minutes remaining on the clock.
As the session was stopped, Esteban Ocon told his team he was not happy with his car and gave them quite the task...
"The drink system is horrible. I'm going to drown," was the message from Yuki Tsunoda to the team.
Then Sainz ended up in the run-off area at Turn 14 after locking up. He brought out a brief Yellow Flag as he reversed back on the track.
25 minutes from the end and only Williams and Mercedes sampled the Soft tyres. All other teams were still running the Mediums.
20 minutes from the end, Albon also ended up in the run-off area at Turn 16 and reversed back on track causing a Yellow Flag.
Colapinto brushed the wall at Turn 17, but got away with it.
As we entered the final 15 minutes of the session, the action on track was reduced to only two cars running as teams started preparing for the all important qualifying simulations.
Leclerc then had a moment with Lance Stroll who passed him and slowed down immediately, the Ferrari driver having to take evasive action.
Russell reported he was struggling with the rear of his Mercedes where he crashed on Friday claiming he had no confidence at that area - Turn 16.
Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly had a close moment. The former apologized by waving at the latter.
The Soft tyre runs went on and it was Verstappen who jumped to the top, four minutes from the end. Russell was less than a tenth behind in second.
There was a close moment that involved Verstappen, Colapinto, and Gasly. The Argentine pulled alongside the Dutchman as the Frenchman was closing in. The Red Bull had to move aside giving space to Colapinto allowing Gasly to pass around Colapinto - Turn 14.
Albon did a mistake in Turn 13 and had to bail out on his lap.
Singapore GP FP3 Classification
Latest News
Loading
