By Cassandra D’Angelo
George Russell topped the time sheet in a disrupted final practice in Melbourne, finishing six-tenths clear of the field. He was followed by both Ferraris’, led by Hamilton. Antonelli found the wall late in practice and is unsure if he will be able to compete in qualifying later this afternoon.
Mercedes and Ferrari both looked quick and reliable on Friday in Melbourne.
Charles Leclerc topped the time sheets during FP1. The Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were led by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the end of FP2.
FP3 started late due to barrier repairs after a crash in the Formula 3 race.
Lance Stroll did not run in the session due to a power unit issue, marking a continuation of ongoing issues at Aston Martin.
Lewis Hamilton started the session with a qualifying run lap time of 1:22.599.
No other top contenders were able to get a lap in before Carlos Sainz caused a yellow flag when his William’s lost power at the start of the pit lane. It appeared to be a power unit issue that led to a test of the Virtual Safety Car before the red flag was shown.
Williams had reliability issues on Friday and the team were hoping to not have any more before qualifying later this afternoon.
As cars came back onto track after the red flag many were on qualifying runs.
After the first round of runs, Kimi Antonelli led the field with a 1:20.324. Verstappen split the two Ferraris, landing in third. They were followed by Piastri, Izack Hadjar, Russell and Norris.
Leclerc quickly took the top spot and the Audis found the pace to beat out one of the Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren cars.
With 30 minutes left the top 9 were all separated by less than a second.
Piastri took the top spot with 25 minutes to go before Leclerc reclaimed the spot by three tenths of a second.
The second William’s of Alexander Albon stopped on track but was able to get going again and make it back to the pits.
The Williams garage will be working hard before qualifying to try and solve the power unit issue that has plagued the cars this session.
Kimi Antonelli had a massive crash at turn 2 with just 12 minutes to go in the session. He was out of the car and radioed that he was okay.
Antonelli had the pace to fight for pole, but this crash will require a chassis change. It is up to the garage now if the car will be ready for qualifying.
Before the red flag, Russell had a purple sector one and two. Mercedes hopes for the first pole of the 2026 season may rest on his shoulders alone now.
The session resumed with four minutes left on the clock. Enough for one flying lap for each car. This will be a true test for qualifying and how drivers will handle the traffic.
Russell finally showed Mercedes’ hand with a flying lap. It landed him above Leclerc on the timing sheet by six-tenths of a second on one-lap-old soft tyres.
The session ended with Russell on top followed by both Ferraris. Piastri led Norris and Hadjar led Verstappen.
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