This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.
That concludes our live coverage of final practice – here’s the session report.
FP3 has finished and Lando Norris is fastest. Report to follow.
Franco Colapinto has also had a harmless spin in the Alpine.
Verstappen now has a spin at the final corner as well. “Yeah a little 360,” he says.
Pierre Gasly is unhappy with Max Verstappen getting close to the racing line at slow speed ahead of him on the way into the fast final corner. Yuki Tsunoda has a spin in the other Red Bull.
Norris backs off in the middle sector. Verstappen does three personal best sectors and goes third, two tenths of a second off Norris.
Verstappen overtakes Bortoleto as he begins his lap. Up ahead Norris has just gone fastest of all in sector one.
With 10 minutes to go Verstappen finally heads out for his first run on soft tyres. He’ll be hoping he doesn’t encounter a late red flag.
Piastri had fallen to 12th but he’s back out with his repaired floor and goes fastest of all in sector one and moves up to second place, a tenth of a second off Norris.
Tsunoda improves on a set of softs, going fifth, though that leaves him behind Stroll. He’s eight tenths of a second off Norris.
A great lap by Bortoleto, who was quick yesterday too, splitting the Ferrari drivers with a 1’05.182. Lance Stroll does a quick one too, going fourth.
Isack Hadjar spins at the exit of the final corner. He got into the gravel at the exit of the corner.
Norris abandoned one attempt after a mistake at turn one, then goes fastest in all three sectors to set a 1’04.324 and move almost seven tenths of a second ahead of Russell.
McLaren are making repairs to Piastri’s floor. He’s seventh with Norris fastest ahead of the Mercedes, Ferraris and Fernando Alonso. Verstappen still 10th on his hard tyre time.
Russell loses a chunk of time at the end of the lap and has to settle for second place, a tenth of a second off Norris. Andrea Kimi Antonelli goes third, just three hundredths off his team mate.
Norris has been on the top of the times for a while but Russell is leading an assault on his benchmark now.
Oscar Piastri drops a couple of wheels beyond the kerb at turn nine, sending gravel and sparks flying, McLaren bring him in to check his floor.
Alexander Albon goes sixth on softs, three-tenths of a second faster than he managed yesterday.
Past the half-hour mark, Russell has gone third and made it three different cars in the top three.
Both Sauber drivers well up so far, Bortoleto was very happy yesterday.
That lap from Hamilton is quicker than he managed yesterday, by two tenths of a second.
Lewis Hamilton pops up to second in his Ferrari but he’s almost half a second off Norris, who’s now on a 1’04.888.
Carlos Sainz Jnr, who has been unhappy with his car’s performance on softs, is the best part of 1.2 seconds off Norris with his run on those tyres, which does not look good for Williams.
Tsunoda takes a set of soft tyres, he’s three tenths of a second off Verstappen’s hard tyre time on his first run, then goes fastest in the first sector and moves ahead of Verstappen by just under a tenth of a second.
Verstappen did a 1’05.568 on his hards. Norris takes the softs and only beats Verstappen’s time by 0.156 seconds.
Verstappen has headed out early on a set of hard tyres. Last year Verstappen came under pressure from Norris at the end of the race as he found himself caught between the choice of an old set of mediums or a new set of hards (and lost more time with a slow pit stop). This year he was alone among the front runners in saving two sets of new mediums and hards for this session, and has now chosen to use the hards. That will put him on the same tyre selection as the other drivers, depending on what they choose to run in this session.
Yesterday Lando Norris surprised Max Verstappen by passing him on the left-hand side on the climb to turn three. The stewards have issued specific instructions regarding that section of the track for qualifying which state: “drivers making way for faster cars between turn one and turn three must clearly move to the far right-hand side of the track.”
The session has begun, no one out just yet. Air temperature is 24C, track temperature 34C, which is on the cool side for this venue.
Lando Norris set the pace in practice on Friday but both McLaren drivers are wary of the potential threat from Max Verstappen. Many times this year we’ve seen the Red Bull driver perform much better on Saturday than Friday, so that will be an obvious point of interest for this final hour practice and the qualifying session later on.
Third practice for the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix is coming up next.
2025 Austrian Grand Prix
- Norrsi felt more confident in 2025 car than ever after ‘close to perfect’ pole lap
- Russell avoids grid drop penalty for pit incident after ‘accidentally slipping clutch’
- Tsunoda mystified by car’s sudden change in balance before Q1 exit
- Red Bull told Verstappen yellow flag cost him third on the grid
- Norris claims pole as late yellow flag scuppers Piastri and Verstappen
