2026 Australian GP FP3: Russell leads final practice

George Russell delivered a statement lap to top the final practice session of the Australian Grand Prix, but it proved a dramatic hour for Mercedes as team mate Kimi Antonelli suffered a heavy late crash ahead of Qualifying.

The third and final practice session of the weekend began slightly later than planned, following barrier repairs required after an earlier collision in the Formula 3 Sprint Race, delaying the start of running at Albert Park. When the green light eventually came on at 12:50 local time, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto led the early queue of cars out of the pit lane, followed by a group that included Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso as teams looked to finalise preparations for Qualifying in the opening round of the 2026 F1 World Championship.

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The early laps saw a variety of tyre compounds used as drivers began building rhythm around the 5.278-kilometre street circuit, while several teams initially kept their cars in the garage. The session was quickly disrupted, however, when Carlos Sainz’s Williams ground to a halt near the pit entry, forcing marshals to wave yellow flags.

Race control soon deployed a Virtual Safety Car, which was then upgraded to a red flag so the stranded FW48 could be safely recovered. Sainz climbed out of the car and began walking back down the pit lane as marshals cleared the scene.

2026 Australian Grand Prix FP3 Results

2026 Australian Grand Prix FP3, 7 March 2026

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:19.053	23
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.616s	22
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.774s	20
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+1.034s	17
5	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	+1.084s	15
6	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+1.144s	15
7	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+1.271s	18
8	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	+1.390s	22
9	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1.406s	19
10	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	+1.725s	18
11	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1.785s	15
12	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+1.837s	13
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+1.930s	19
14	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+2.014s	22
15	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+2.018s	26
16	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+2.360s	22
17	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	+2.611s	17
18	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+3.667s	20
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+4.461s	12
20	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+5.344s	21
21	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams		1

Once the Williams had been removed, a queue quickly formed at the pit lane exit before the session resumed with 38 minutes remaining, triggering a flurry of activity as most of the field headed back onto the circuit.

With track time reduced, the circuit quickly became crowded as drivers attempted to complete their planned programmes. Lance Stroll remained absent, with Aston Martin still working to repair his car after a power unit issue delayed the rebuild of the AMR26.

As the session approached the halfway mark, Charles Leclerc set the pace with a 1m20.271s, edging Mercedes Kimi Antonelli by 0.053 seconds, while Ferrari team mate Lewis Hamilton followed in third.

The competitive order continued to evolve as drivers switched to the soft tyre compound. Hamilton briefly moved to the top of the timesheets, beating Leclerc by just under a tenth as teams pushed for representative laps before Qualifying.

Elsewhere, Alex Albon briefly triggered yellow flags after slowing on track, though the Williams driver managed to get his car moving again without bringing the session to a halt.

The fight at the top remained fluid. Oscar Piastri briefly split the Ferraris to move into the leading position, before Leclerc returned to P1 with an even quicker lap as the times tumbled across the field.

Meanwhile, Aston Martin confirmed that Stroll would not participate in FP3, with the team diagnosing a suspected internal combustion engine issue on his car.

With the session entering its final quarter, many drivers bolted on fresh soft tyres in preparation for their final qualifying simulations. But the run plans across the paddock were abruptly interrupted when Antonelli suffered a heavy crash at Turn 2.

The Mercedes rookie clipped the kerb on entry to the corner and lost control of the W17, spinning into the barriers in a significant impact that immediately brought out the red flags.

Antonelli quickly reported over the radio that he was uninjured, climbing out of the car as marshals began recovering the heavily damaged Mercedes and clearing debris from the circuit. The Italian then made his way back to the garage, leaving his team facing a race against time to repair the car ahead of Qualifying.

With just under four minutes remaining when the session resumed, the pit lane became crowded as drivers scrambled to secure track position for a final flying lap. Lando Norris led the queue out of the pits and briefly climbed up to fifth place on the timing screens.

But it was Russell who delivered the standout lap in the closing moments, the Mercedes driver setting a 1m19.053s to go fastest of all — a lap that placed him 0.774 seconds clear of Leclerc at the time and comfortably at the top of the leaderboard.

As the chequered flag waved, Russell remained fastest while Hamilton moved into second place, finishing 0.616 seconds behind his former Mercedes team mate. Leclerc ended the session third ahead of home favourite Piastri, while Red Bull drivers Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen completed the top six.

Despite his crash, Antonelli still finished seventh on the timesheets, though attention now turns to whether Mercedes can repair the damaged car in time for the first Qualifying session of the season.

Behind him, Lando Norris finished eighth, followed by Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Haas driver Ollie Bearman, who completed the top ten.

Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad continued his impressive start to the weekend in 11th, ahead of teammate Liam Lawson. Haas’ Esteban Ocon was 13th, followed by Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.

Alex Albon finished 17th in what proved a difficult session for Williams, while Fernando Alonso logged 18 laps for Aston Martin during the hour.

The Cadillac pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez ended the session 19th and 20th, respectively, while Sainz was classified 21st after failing to return to the track following his earlier stoppage. Stroll did not participate in the session at all due to the suspected engine issue.