Lando Norris was the surprise pacesetter in a curtailed final practice session at the Australian Grand Prix.
As teams completed final preparations ahead of qualifying, the McLaren driver would set a 1m19.117s to lead Charles Leclerc by a tenth of a second.
It would be a disastrous session for Aston Martin, however, as both Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll crashed into the barriers, the latter causing FP3 to be ended early.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2022
Vettel is into the wall after a high-speed off at Turn 10
Driver is all OK and out of the car 👍#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/INi489HoLW
Before the session, it was announced the FIA had removed the DRS zone between Turn 8 and 9, reducing the number to three and requiring some teams to adjust their car setup.
Red Bull set the early pace on the mediums before Ferrari and Fernando Alonso went quickest on the softs.
In a frantic minute, Vettel would crash at Turn 10, causing a red flag moments after Lewis Hamilton ran wide and nudged the barrier at Turn 11.
When the session resumed, Ferrari, Alonso and Sergio Perez alternated at the top as lap times dipped into the 1m19s.
Verstappen continued to run on the mediums as he struggled for balance, even having a spin at the penultimate corner.
Max briefly loses it as he enters into the final corner! 😯
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2022
It's a quick recovery for the Dutchman, who continues on #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/kKKJKOFJFc
Switching to their second set of softs, McLaren improved with Norris posting what would be the fastest time of the hour.
Teammate and home favourite Daniel Ricciardo also ran strongly in P6.
As for Verstappen, he would continue to struggle after switching to the softs, failing to complete a full flying lap.
The Dutchman though was only P7 and less than 0.7s off the pace despite his best time coming on used mediums.
Hamilton was eighth and George Russell 11th as the Mercedes continued to look a handful at high-speed and under braking.
That's FP3. 👌 A session of experimentation with plenty of interesting data points to learn from. 📊 pic.twitter.com/plq1mxFBiQ
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 9, 2022
Valtteri Bottas claimed ninth with Yuki Tsunoda completing the top 10 for AlphaTauri.
Further down, Esteban Ocon had a strange session finishing nine-tenths behind teammate Alonso in P13 for Alpine.
Mick Schumacher was 14th, three-tenths ahead of Haas partner Kevin Magnussen in 17th.
Not only did both Aston Martins crash, they also brought up the standings in 19th and 20th.
Full results from Practice 3 can be seen below:
Lando Norris finishes FP3 in the top spot 👊#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/nFDPezgIWi
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2022
