F1 Australian GP: George Russell leads interrupted FP3…

Mercedes' George Russell is heading into Formula 1's first qualifying session of the year with the fastest time as he topped a derailed FP3 session at the Australian Grand Prix.

Russell and Mercedes finally showed their hand with a brutal last-minute flyer to head Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

The start of the session was delayed by 20 minutes due to barrier repairs prompted by a crash in F3 and it would be interrupted again with two red flags, one for an early stoppage by Williams' Carlos Sainz, and late red flag for a smash by Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli in Turn 2.

Hamilton had been leading the early running in Albert Park when Sainz ground to a halt at pit entry on his out-lap on what was another troublesome session for the Grove team, with Albon plagued by hydraulic issues on Friday.

The session was resumed with 38 minutes on the clock, with Mercedes sophomore Antonelli dipping under Hamilton's early benchmark, only to be bested by Ferrari's Leclerc and his 1m20.271s lap as all frontrunners opted for Pirelli's softest rubber. Piastri then went quickest with a 1m20.164s, before Leclerc retaliated once more with a 1m19.827s to go top.

The session was interrupted once more in the final quarter for a vicious crash by Antonelli, who appeared to bottom out on the inside of Turn 2 and veered hard into the outside wall. Antonelli escaped unhurt, but Mercedes is up against it to build up a new car for the young Italian ahead of qualifying.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes (Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

The session went green again for the final four minutes, which led to a long queue at pit exit for one final flyer. It was only then that Russell showed his real hand, setting a last-minute lap of 1m19.053s which was six tenths faster than Hamilton and seven tenths up on Leclerc's previous benchmark.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri was fourth ahead of impressive Red Bull man Isack Hadjar, with four different teams in the top five. Max Verstappen was sixth behind his team-mate, as the Red Bull conceded a full second to Russell.

The unfortunate Antonelli was seventh-fastest ahead of world champion Lando Norris in the McLaren. Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto and Haas driver Oliver Bearman completed the top 10.

There were some faint glimmers of improvement at Aston Martin, where Fernando Alonso was able to complete 20 laps in the Honda powered AMR26, setting a lap that had been vastly quicker than what the team had managed thus far.

Alonso's 1m22s lap was 3.6 seconds off the frontrunners, which could be a crucial benchmark time for the Spaniard to qualify for the race if he encounters any trouble in Saturday's actual qualifying session. But Alonso's team-mate Lance Stroll failed to make it out at all after Aston detected an issue with the internal combustion engine while building up his car.

With Sainz joining Stroll at the bottom after failing to set a lap, Cadillac duo Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez brought up the rear of the field in 19th and 20th respectively.

Qualifying for F1's 2026 curtain-raiser follows at 4pm local Melbourne time.

F1 Australian GP - FP3 results

FP3

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	23	1'19.053		S	240.355
2	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	22	+0.616 1'19.669	0.616	S	238.496
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	20	+0.774 1'19.827	0.158	S	238.024
4	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	17	+1.034 1'20.087	0.260	S	237.251
5	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6	Red Bull	Red Bull	15	+1.084 1'20.137	0.050	S	237.103
6	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3	Red Bull	Red Bull	15	+1.144 1'20.197	0.060	S	236.926
7	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	18	+1.271 1'20.324	0.127	S	236.551
8	L. Norris McLaren	1	McLaren	Mercedes	22	+1.390 1'20.443	0.119	S	236.202
9	G. Bortoleto Audi	5	Audi	Audi	19	+1.406 1'20.459	0.016	S	236.155
10	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	18	+1.725 1'20.778	0.319	S	235.222
11	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41	RB	Red Bull	15	+1.785 1'20.838	0.060	S	235.047
12	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	13	+1.837 1'20.890	0.052	H	234.896
13	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	19	+1.930 1'20.983	0.093	S	234.627
14	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27	Audi	Audi	22	+2.014 1'21.067	0.084	S	234.383
15	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Mercedes	26	+2.018 1'21.071	0.004	S	234.372
16	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Mercedes	22	+2.360 1'21.413	0.342	S	233.387
17	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	17	+2.611 1'21.664	0.251	S	232.670
18	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Honda	20	+3.667 1'22.720	1.056	S	229.700
19	V. Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari	77	Cadillac	Ferrari	12	+4.461 1'23.514	0.794	S	227.516
20	S. Perez Cadillac-Ferrari	11	Cadillac	Ferrari	21	+5.344 1'24.397	0.883	M	225.135
21	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	1
22	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Honda	0
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