Mercedes’ George Russell is setting the fastest time heading into Formula 1’s first qualifying session of the year, taking victory in the FP3 stage of the Australian Grand Prix.
Russell and Mercedes finally showed their strength with a brutal final-minute flyer to take the lead over Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
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The start of the race was delayed by 20 minutes due to guardrail repairs due to an F3 incident, and the race was again interrupted with two red flags, one when Williams’ Carlos Sainz stopped early, and the other when Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli collided at Turn 2.
Hamilton, who had been leading the early stages of the race at Albert Park, stalled at the pit entrance when Sainz was on his outside lap in another troublesome session for the Grove team, which was plagued by hydraulic problems on Friday for Albon.
The race resumed with 38 minutes left, with second-year Mercedes driver Antonelli falling short of Hamilton’s early benchmark, but was eventually overtaken by Ferrari’s Leclerc with a 1:20.271 lap as all the leaders opted for Pirelli’s softest rubber. Piastri then set the fastest time with a time of 1m20.164s, before Leclerc again topped the list with a time of 1m19.827s.
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The race was interrupted again in the final quarter by a nasty crash from Antonelli, who appeared to bottom out on the inside of Turn Two and swerved hard towards the outside wall. Antonelli was uninjured but Mercedes is working hard to build a new car for the young Italian ahead of qualifying.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
The race went green again in the final four minutes, resulting in long queues at the pit exit waiting for the final leaflet. Only then did Russell show his real hand, setting a lap time of 1 minute 19.053 seconds at the last minute, six tenths faster than Hamilton and seven tenths higher than Leclerc’s previous benchmark.
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McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was fourth, ahead of the impressive Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar, with four different teams in the top five. Max Verstappen finished sixth, behind his teammate, with Red Bull handing second place to Russell.
Unfortunately, Antonelli was seventh fastest in the McLaren, ahead of world champion Lando Norris. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Haas driver Oliver Bearman rounded out the top ten.
There was some slight improvement from Aston Martin Racing, with Fernando Alonso completing 20 laps in the Honda-powered AMR26, setting a much faster time than the team had achieved so far.
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Alonso’s lap time of 1m22 was 3.6 seconds behind the leader and could be a key benchmark time for the Spaniard to qualify for the race if he encounters any trouble in Saturday’s actual qualifying. But Alonso’s team-mate Lance Stroll never made it after Aston discovered a problem with the combustion engine while assembling his car.
With Sainz unable to complete a lap, he finished last alongside Stroll, leaving Cadillac duo Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez in 19th and 20th respectively.
The F1 2026 qualifying round will kick off at 4pm local time in Melbourne.
Also read:
FIA resumes Australian Grand Prix pass-through mode changes after F1 team boycott
F1 Australian Grand Prix – FP3 results
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