F1 Australian GP: George Russell leads interrupted FP3 as Kimi Antonelli suffers heavy crash

Mercedes' George Russell is heading into Formula 1's first qualifying session of the year with the fastest time as he topped a derailed FP3 session at the Australian Grand Prix. Russell and Mercedes finally showed their hand with a brutal last-minute flyer to head Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. The start of the session was delayed by 20 minutes due to barrier repairs prompted by a crash in F3 and it would be interrupted again with two red flags, one for an early stoppage by Williams' Carlos Sainz, and late red flag for a smash by Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli in Turn 2. Hamilton had been leading the early running in Albert Park when Sainz ground to a halt at pit entry on his out-lap on what was another troublesome session for the Grove team, with Albon plagued by hydraulic issues on Friday. The session was resumed with 38 minutes on the clock, with Mercedes sophomore Antonelli dipping under Hamilton's early benchmark, only to be bested by Ferrari's Leclerc and his 1m20.271s lap as all frontrunners opted for Pirelli's softest rubber. Piastri then went quickest with a 1m20.164s, before Leclerc retaliated once more with a 1m19.827s to go top. The session was interrupted once more in the final quarter for a vicious crash by Antonelli, who appeared to bottom out on the inside of Turn 2 and veered hard into the outside wall. Antonelli escaped unhurt, but Mercedes is up against it to build up a new car for the young Italian ahead of qualifying. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images The session went green again for the final four minutes, which led to a long queue at pit exit for one final flyer. It was only then that Russell showed his real hand, setting a last-minute lap of 1m19.053s which was six tenths faster than Hamilton and seven tenths up on Leclerc's previous benchmark. McLaren's Oscar Piastri was fourth ahead of impressive Red Bull man Isack Hadjar, with four different teams in the top five. Max Verstappen was sixth behind his team-mate, as the Red Bull conceded a full second to Russell. The unfortunate Antonelli was seventh-fastest ahead of world champion Lando Norris in the McLaren. Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto and Haas driver Oliver Bearman completed the top 10. There were some faint glimmers of improvement at Aston Martin, where Fernando Alonso was able to complete 20 laps in the Honda powered AMR26, setting a lap that had been vastly quicker than what the team had managed thus far. Alonso's 1m22s lap was 3.6 seconds off the frontrunners, which could be a crucial benchmark time for the Spaniard to qualify for the race if he encounters any trouble in Saturday's actual qualifying session. But Alonso's team-mate Lance Stroll failed to make it out at all after Aston detected an issue with the internal combustion engine while building up his car. With Sainz joining Stroll at the bottom after failing to set a lap, Cadillac duo Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez brought up the rear of the field in 19th and 20th respectively. Qualifying for F1's 2026 curtain-raiser follows at 4pm local Melbourne time. Read Also: Formula 1FIA to revert Australian GP straight mode change after F1 team pushback F1 Australian GP - FP3 results FP3 All Stats   Cla Driver #   Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval Tyres km/h 1 G. Russell Mercedes 63   Mercedes Mercedes 23 1'19.053   S 240.355 2 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44   Ferrari Ferrari 22 +0.616 1'19.669 0.616 S 238.496 3 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16   Ferrari Ferrari 20 +0.774 1'19.827 0.158 S 238.024 4 O. Piastri McLaren 81   McLaren Mercedes 17 +1.034 1'20.087 0.260 S 237.251 5 I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing 6   Red Bull Red Bull 15 +1.084 1'20.137 0.050 S 237.103 6 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3   Red Bull Red Bull 15 +1.144 1'20.197 0.060 S 236.926 7 A. Antonelli Mercedes 12   Mercedes Mercedes 18 +1.271 1'20.324 0.127 S 236.551 8 L. Norris McLaren 1   McLaren Mercedes 22 +1.390 1'20.443 0.119 S 236.202 9 G. Bortoleto Audi 5   Audi Audi 19 +1.406 1'20.459 0.016 S 236.155 10 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87   Haas Ferrari 18 +1.725 1'20.778 0.319 S 235.222 11 A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41   RB Red Bull 15 +1.785 1'20.838 0.060 S 235.047 12 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30   RB Red Bull 13 +1.837 1'20.890 0.052 H 234.896 13 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31   Haas Ferrari 19 +1.930 1'20.983 0.093 S 234.627 14 N. Hulkenberg Audi 27   Audi Audi 22 +2.014 1'21.067 0.084 S 234.383 15 P. Gasly Alpine 10   Alpine Mercedes 26 +2.018 1'21.071 0.004 S 234.372 16 F. Colapinto Alpine 43   Alpine Mercedes 22 +2.360 1'21.413 0.342 S 233.387 17 A. Albon Williams 23   Williams Mercedes 17 +2.611 1'21.664 0.251 S 232.670 18 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14   Aston Martin Honda 20 +3.667 1'22.720 1.056 S 229.700 19 V. Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 77   Cadillac Ferrari 12 +4.461 1'23.514 0.794 S 227.516 20 S. Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 11   Cadillac Ferrari 21 +5.344 1'24.397 0.883 M 225.135 21 C. Sainz Williams 55   Williams Mercedes 1         22 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18   Aston Martin Honda 0         View full results   Photos from Australian GP - Saturday