Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Practice - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 14, 2025 McLaren's Oscar Piastri during practice REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Home racer Oscar Piastri put McLaren top of the timesheets in the final free practice before Australian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday while Haas rookie Oliver Bearman spun out to trigger a second red flag in two days.
Piastri lapped Albert Park in one minute, 15.921 seconds on soft tyres, 0.039 ahead of second-placed Mercedes driver George Russell and nearly seven-tenths of a second quicker than McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
The Australian's time was also more than half a second quicker than Norris's best on softs during the previous practice on Friday.
Red Bull's defending champion Max Verstappen was third quickest in FP3, while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth despite complaining of oversteer problems.
The session was halted after only three minutes when Bearman clipped grass and lost control entering turn 11 on his first lap. He ended up beached in gravel and shaking his head ruefully, with a crane needed to lift his car out.
The spin followed his heavy crash into a wall when exiting turn 10 during first practice on Friday, which also brought out the red flag.
Bearman, one of six drivers in Australia opening an F1 season for the first time, was unable to practise in the second session on Friday while his team scrambled to make repairs.
Lewis Hamilton has had a slow start on his Ferrari debut in Australia, the seven-times world champion posting the eighth quickest lap in the final practice.
He was 12th in FP1 and fifth in FP2, saying he found the car performing differently in Australia than he previously experienced.
Mercedes' 18-year-old rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli had an encouraging session, posting the fifth quickest lap with a gap of 0.246 seconds to teammate Russell.
Red Bull's Liam Lawson did not drive in the FP3 due to a power unit problem on the air-side, the team said.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
