Leclerc leads top three teams covered by a tenth of a second as practice ends

Charles Leclerc was the quickest driver in final practice for the Australian Grand Prix as one tenth of a second covered the top four drivers.

The Ferrari driver set the pace for the second consecutive session around the Albert Park circuit, just two-hundredths of a second quicker than Max Verstappen

In cooler conditions than Friday, drivers appeared to struggle to get quick times out of the soft tyre compared to the medium compound until the end of the session. Leclerc went quickest as the chequered flag fell.

Carlos Sainz Jnr was third-fastest, setting his best time on the mediums. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was within a tenth of Leclerc by the end of the session in fourth despite complaining about losing a significant amount of time to his rivals down the straights earlier in the session.

George Russell was fifth-fastest ahead of Fernando Alonso in the lead Aston Martin. Sergio Perez was seventh for Red Bull ahead of Oscar Piastri, Lance Stroll and Lando Norris.

The overcast conditions meant that the final hour of practice was cooler than the two on Frida. Crucially, the wind speed was also lower. That appeared to make life easier for drivers than the first day of running as there were far fewer off-track moments during the final hour. Traffic was still a concern, however, with even the Mercedes team mates appearing to get in each others way over the session.

There were no major problems for any of the 19 drivers running, with Logan Sargeant not participating after being withdrawn by his Williams team. Both Red Bull drivers complained that their brakes were not “biting” at the start of the hour, but they appeared satisfied with their braking performance as their runs continued.

After the end of the session, the stewards announced that Sainz would be investigated for allegedly failing to follow the practice start procedure on the grid following the chequered flag.

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2024 Australian Grand Prix third practice result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-24	1’16.714		22
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB20	1’16.734	0.020	28
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-24	1’16.791	0.077	20
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W15	1’16.806	0.092	20
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W15	1’16.886	0.172	23
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR24	1’16.997	0.283	20
7	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB20	1’17.014	0.300	28
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL38	1’17.087	0.373	19
9	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR24	1’17.341	0.627	22
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL38	1’17.490	0.776	22
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	01	1’17.673	0.959	19
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber-Ferrari	C44	1’17.752	1.038	20
13	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW46	1’17.759	1.045	23
14	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber-Ferrari	C44	1’17.876	1.162	19
15	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A524	1’17.920	1.206	18
16	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-24	1’17.941	1.227	17
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-24	1’17.961	1.247	18
18	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	01	1’17.963	1.249	20
19	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A524	1’18.390	1.676	19

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Complete practice times

P.	#	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	FP3 time	Gap	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’18.599	1’17.277	1’16.714		70
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’18.582	1’17.658	1’16.734	0.020	68
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’18.686	1’17.707	1’16.791	0.077	68
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’18.771	1’18.834	1’16.806	0.092	63
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’18.597	1’17.951	1’16.886	0.172	68
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’19.716	1’17.912	1’16.997	0.283	67
7	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’18.642	1’18.090	1’17.014	0.300	84
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’18.918	1’18.077	1’17.087	0.373	73
9	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’18.667	1’17.822	1’17.341	0.627	77
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’18.564	1’18.155	1’17.490	0.776	68
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1’18.621	1’18.188	1’17.673	0.959	72
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber-Ferrari	1’20.014	1’18.585	1’17.752	1.038	73
13	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’19.443		1’17.759	1.045	34
14	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber-Ferrari	1’19.989	1’18.421	1’17.876	1.162	74
15	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’19.561	1’18.705	1’17.920	1.206	75
16	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1’19.604	1’18.702	1’17.941	1.227	66
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’19.489	1’19.275	1’17.961	1.247	70
18	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	1’19.274	1’18.534	1’17.963	1.249	75
19	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1’19.622	1’18.691	1’18.390	1.676	77
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1’19.519	1’18.578		1.864	45

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2024 Australian Grand Prix

• Alonso calls Australian GP penalty a ‘one-off I’ve had too many of’
• Red Bull saw warning sign of Australian GP brake problem on Saturday – Verstappen
• Failing to punish Alonso would have “opened a can of worms” – Russell
• Leclerc sure “many team principals” are pursuing Sainz for 2025 seat
• “Don’t put me under pressure” – The best unheard team radio from Melbourne

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