Oscar Piastri put McLaren back on top in FP3 of F1 Australian GP ahead of George Russell and Max Verstappen in cloudy conditions.
It was not as sunny as Friday for FP3 of F1 Australian GP at Albert Park. It was cloudy conditions as Oscar Piastri put McLaren back on top with a 1m15.921s lap which was only 0.039s quicker than Mercedes’ George Russell, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finishing 0.081s aloof the Australian.
It was close at the front with drivers opting for multiple quick laps. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth from Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who had a much better FP3 than Friday. Williams, meanwhile, continued their fine run with Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon in sixth and seventh.
The Spaniard had a wall tap in the session as several made gravel tap at Turn 6 and Turn 9 respectively. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was eighth from Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, as McLaren’s Lando Norris rounded out the Top 10 where the Brit aborted multiple of his quick laps.
Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto made the most in 11th ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Visa Cash App RB’s Isack Hadjar. The first of Aston Martin was Lance Stroll in 14th from Alpine’s Jack Doohan, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and the other Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
Haas continued to face downward slope with Esteban Ocon only 18th to be the last of the timed runners. Teammate Oliver Bearman’s torrid run continued after losing out at Turn 13 on his first quick lap, following on from FP1 incident and FP2 miss.
Red Bull’s Liam Lawson was beached in the garage after suspected power unit problem. The Top 8 ended up within half a second of Piastri, with the Top 13 within a second and the Top 15 just over a second to make it a hugely competitive field.
Due to Bearman’s incident, the Brit had to take a whole set of ICE, TC, MGU-K and MGU-H in already the first event of F1 2025. Here’s the list: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2025_australian_grand_prix_-_new_pu_elements_for_this_competition_0.pdf
Here’s what was said after Friday in F1 Australian GP