Oscar Piastri on top in Practice 3

Oscar Piastri and George Russell have thrown down the gauntlet to Max Verstappen in the final Practice session in the buildup to the FORMULA 1 LOUIS VUITTON AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2025.

Piastri topped the final Practice when he dipped below the 1m16 barrier, with a best time of 1m15.921s in the McLaren-Mercedes. That was 0.039s faster than Russell (Mercedes-AMG) and 0.081s clear of Verstappen, the four-time and defending World Champion put a tricky Friday behind him.

While Piastri can be pleased with his afternoon, teammate Lando Norris can be happier with what 10th would he normally would be. His McLaren looked to be on the way to a top-three time when he abandoned a quick lap, indicating that his pace is as fast (and maybe faster) than the top three drivers might have been.

Ferrari took fourth fastest time, though Charles Leclerc was complaining about a lack of rear grip and he only just held out the sensational Kimi Antonelli. The teenager looked assured on his debut with Mercedes-AMG and will be one to watch during the single-lap afternoon session.

While the Williams duo were not right at the top of the time sheets, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon would have been happy drivers. Apart from their single-lap runs that gave them sixth (Sainz) and seventh (Albon), the pair ran within a couple of tenths of a second with the fastest drivers of the session while running on the slower Hard Pirelli tyre, which would be expected to be well down on pace to the Soft tyres that will feature in Qualifying later today.

Lewis Hamilton was eighth fastest in what looked like a twitchy Ferrari, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), Norris and impressive Sauber rookie, Gabriel Bortoleto.

Jack Doohan took 15th fastest time, 0.26s behind his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, while the drivers lost seven minutes of track time, due to Ollie Bearman crashing out of a session for the second day in a row, leaving the Haas driver to march into Qualifying with only 14 laps completed in the three Practice sessions.

But that was not the problem that sidelined Liam Lawson. The Kiwi’s Red Bull was garaged for most of the session with a hydraulic problem, and he faces a challenge to go into Qualifying with fewer laps under his belt than he would have wanted.

Next up for the Formula 1® teams and drivers is the all-important three-stage Qualifying session, set to start at 4:00pm.