Oscar Piastri topped the final practice session for the Australian Grand Prix, leading Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by a margin. Haas rookie Ollie Bearman suffered another costly incident, this time crashing heavily under braking for Turn 11.
The McLaren driver posted a fastest time of 1:15.921s, with Russell and Verstappen completing the podium in second and third respectively. The Red Bull team had an eventful session, with Liam Lawson struggling with recharge issues and reporting a “power unit or power unit system problem”.
Despite the challenges, Piastri’s performance was impressive, as he edged out his rivals by 0.039s to Russell and 0.081s to Verstappen. The times were affected by soft tyre efforts towards the end of the session, which saw Verstappen initially set a faster time before hitting trouble.
The results set up a thrilling qualifying hour later today, with drivers looking to fine-tune their cars for the rain-hit race ahead.
Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/fp3-piastri-leads-russell-and-verstappen-during-final-practice-in-australia.5h4IY8OP3KpfZuFp2yrx5V