Oscar Piastri raised the expectations of his home crowd in Melbourne by setting the fastest time in final practice.

However there was little to choose between the three quickest teams at the end of the last hour of running before qualifying. George Russell, second for Mercedes, and Max Verstappen, third for Red Bull, both lapped within a tenth of a second of Piastri’s time.

Yesterday’s pace-setter Charles Leclerc made it four different cars in the top four, lapping just over a quarter of a second off Piastri. However the Ferrari driver was less happy with the change in balance he felt since yesterday, complaining his car was “understeery”.

The two drivers who were arguably most in need of extra running got almost none. Oliver Bearman, whose crash yesterday left him with just a dozen laps on the board, joined the track immediately after the pit lane exit lights turned green. To his team’s dismay, he spun into a gravel trap at turn 11 soon afterwards, causing another session stoppage.

New Red Bull driver Liam Lawson, who was only 17th yesterday, accompanied Bearman onto the circuit when the session began. However he soon returned to the pits with an apparent power unit problem and never re-emerged.

Verstappen, still running the newer front wing specification on his RB21 compared to his team mate, pressed on alone. Having lagged well off the pace yesterday, he improved his time by over a second.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a trouble-free run to the fifth fastest time in the Mercedes.

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Behind him, Williams underlined their status as potential midfield front runners. By the end of the session Carlos Sainz Jnr was just three-tenths of a second off the pace, with team mate Alexander Albon just six thousandths of a second behind him.

Lewis Hamilton was eighth, two-tenths of a second off Leclerc. He kept pressing race engineer Ricardo Adami for details on the gap between them, and appeared to be losing the most time in the quicker right-hander of turn six, where the gravel trap has been expanded since last year and now extends right up to the edge of the kerb.

Yuki Tsunoda put Racing Bulls in the top five. Lando Norris completed the top 10, six-tenths of a second off Piastri, after abandoning a better lap in the penultimate corner. He did, however, set the fastest time of anyone in the final sector before the session ended.

2025 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix third practice result

P. # Driver Team Model Time Gap Laps
1 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes MCL39 1’15.921 16
2 63 George Russell Mercedes W16 1’15.960 0.039 17
3 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT RB21 1’16.002 0.081 18
4 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF-25 1’16.188 0.267 22
5 12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes W16 1’16.206 0.285 20
6 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Williams-Mercedes FW47 1’16.252 0.331 23
7 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes FW47 1’16.258 0.337 4
8 44 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari SF-25 1’16.378 0.457 21
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 02 1’16.455 0.534 4
10 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL39 1’16.597 0.676 20
11 5 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber-Ferrari C45 1’16.707 0.786 18
12 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault A525 1’16.719 0.798 22
13 6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 02 1’16.732 0.811 18
14 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR25 1’16.948 1.027 22
15 7 Jack Doohan Alpine-Renault A525 1’16.993 1.072 18
16 27 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari C45 1’17.146 1.225 15
17 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR25 1’17.270 1.349 22
18 31 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari VF-25 1’17.373 1.452 18
19 87 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari VF-25 No time 2
20 30 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Honda RBPT RB21 No time 2

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2025 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix combined practice times

P. # Driver Team FP1 time FP2 time FP3 time Gap Laps
1 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1’17.670 1’16.563 1’15.921 66
2 63 George Russell Mercedes 1’17.716 1’17.282 1’15.960 0.039 73
3 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1’17.696 1’17.063 1’16.002 0.081 61
4 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’17.461 1’16.439 1’16.188 0.267 75
5 12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1’18.390 1’17.634 1’16.206 0.285 76
6 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Williams-Mercedes 1’17.401 1’17.302 1’16.252 0.331 78
7 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1’17.713 1’17.302 1’16.258 0.337 50
8 44 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1’18.071 1’16.859 1’16.378 0.457 72
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1’18.061 1’16.784 1’16.455 0.534 56
10 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1’17.252 1’16.580 1’16.597 0.659 71
11 5 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber-Ferrari 1’18.438 1’17.847 1’16.707 0.786 69
12 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault 1’18.505 1’17.493 1’16.719 0.798 75
13 6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1’17.847 1’17.019 1’16.732 0.811 73
14 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’18.057 1’17.279 1’16.948 1.027 70
15 7 Jack Doohan Alpine-Renault 1’18.232 1’17.394 1’16.993 1.072 68
16 27 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1’18.586 1’17.161 1’17.146 1.225 57
17 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’17.736 1’17.330 1’17.270 1.349 72
18 31 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1’19.139 1’18.034 1’17.373 1.452 65
19 30 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1’18.455 1’17.640 No time 1.719 54
20 87 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1’19.312 No time 3.391 14

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2025 Australian Grand Prix

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