George Russell tops FP3 to set Mercedes benchmark

Written by Maham Mir, Edited by Marit Everett

A third different driver finished fastest in FP3 in Australia as a disrupted session saw Mercedes show their pace despite a costly crash and Ferrari follow closely behind with both drivers.

Russell went fastest by a significant margin to Ferrari in FP3 | Credit: Formula One

The first Saturday of the 2026 Formula One season has arrived with the final hour of practice. FP3 was topped by George Russell with a 1:19.053, followed by Lewis Hamilton in second and Charles Leclerc rounding out the top three. 

Affected by a delayed start following a crash in F3 which saw some barriers needing repairs, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was the first car to take to the track.

Woes continued at Aston Martin after a difficult start to the pre-season followed them to Melbourne. With Fernando Alonso missing FP1 and both drivers only managing 31 laps in FP2, the team announced that Stroll would not be taking part in FP3. 

Carlos Sainz brought out an early yellow flag after stopping at the entry of the pitlane which subsequently triggered a Virtual Safety Car and eventually a red flag. The difficulties for the Williams team continued from the first day of the season where Alex Albon was victim to a hydraulic failure.

The pre-season troubles continue for Williams as Albon and Sainz have issues in Melbourne | Credit: Formula One

With 40 minutes remaining on the clock, Hamilton was at the top of the time sheets with a 1:20.572 set on the C5 soft tyre. Shortly after, at the halfway mark of the session, Hamilton was fastest again with a 1:20.176. 

Kimi Antonelli brought out the second red flag after a big crash. Antonelli’s teammate, Russell, was on a qualifying simulation lap where he had set the fastest first and second sectors of the session so far. 

Oscar Piastri, who finished fastest in FP2, had to settle for P4 in the final hour of practice. The Red Bull teammate pairing of  Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen finished P5 and P6 with the new arrival to the team finishing marginally ahead of his four-time world champion teammate. 

Antonelli, despite the crash, finished the session in P7. The severity of his crash, which brought out the medical car, and the subsequent damage to his car will make his participation in qualifying later on today up for debate.

Antonelli emerged unhurt from his crash in FP3 | Credit: Formula One

Reigning world champion Lando Norris finished in P8, he encountered traffic on his only true qualifying simulation lap however he was still 1.390s off the pace compared to front-runner Russell. 

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Haas’s Ollie Bearman completed the top 10 in P9 and P10 respectively. Audi’s power unit has seemingly responded well to conditions in Australia as Haas enjoy the reliability of their Ferrari power unit.

Looking Ahead

Up next is the first qualifying session of 2026 and questions are up in the air about where everyone will slot into place. Based on the results of the practice sessions so far, it seems that there are least four drivers in contention for the top spot for the first race of the season.

Will it be Leclerc vying for a 28th career pole, Hamilton hoping to start the season off on a high, Russell placing the Silver Arrows back at the front or a curveball from another driver on the grid? It is all to play for across the grid in our first qualifying session with 22 cars.