Formula 1 News: Oscar Piastri tops Australian GP Practice 3

Australian McLaren driver Oscar Piastri gave the locals something to cheer about by setting the fastest time in final practice for the 2025 Australian GP around the 3.28-mile Albert Park Circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Piastri’s lap of 1m15.921s was just 0.039s ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell on a day that was very warm and humid.

After struggling a bit on Friday, Max Verstappen was happy with his time in the Red Bull RB21 that was third quickest, just 0.081s behind Piastri.

The top-3 were very close with a gap back to Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari in 4th, 0.267s behind Piastri.  Leclerc was fastest in Practice 2 on Friday. “The car is very oversteery…. Can we review as it is not giving me much confidence at the minute,” said Leclerc.

Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top-5 in the 2nd Mercedes, 0.285s behind Piastri.

Red Bull discovered a power issue with Liam Lawson’s car early on in FP3. Lawson got out of the car, which is up on stands.

The team are working hard to fix whatever issue has been found, but with the car in pieces and the clock ticking down, he might be heading into qualifying very short of lap time.

Oliver Bearman crashed his Haas again, and again did not set a time.

McLaren are clearly in the mix at the front, with both drivers impressing – Norris in P10 did not set a representative lap time after encountering traffic on his push run.

Russell’s Mercedes looks to have decent one-lap pace, Verstappen has joined the party and Antonelli is giving a good account of himself too.

“It is super tight, but George has more in his pocket – he had traffic on his lap, and Kimi is building lap by lap,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “What he is doing is exactly the right trajectory and he is gaining in confidence.”

Ferrari are the unknown today, after looking strong yesterday. Leclerc isn’t happy with his car in these warmer temperatures, but whether he can improve it in time for qualifying remains to be seen.

That Red Bull seems to have the one-lap pace today, but what about race pace? Based on yesterday’s simulations, it is the fourth quickest car on longer runs – but with rain coming tomorrow, Verstappen can never be discounted.

Next up is qualifying to set the grid for what looks to be a wet Australian GP on Sunday. There is a near 100% chance of rain at race time, but it clears out at 5:00pm local time. Might we see a delayed start?

2025 Australian GP Practice 3 Results