#F1 #AustrianGP #FP3: @LandoNorris heads @McLarenF1 one-two.

Norris Austrian GP FP3 – Lando Norris lead from team-mate Oscar Piastri in another McLaren one-two in FP3 at the Austrian GP as Max Verstappen completed the top three for Red Bull.

Norris posted the session-topping benchmark on the C5 softs and was 0.118 seconds clear of Piastri whilst Verstappen was a further 0.210 seconds adrift of the Briton’s benchmark effort.

After a lull for the opening four minutes, the Aston Martin duo of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso took to the track on a set of the C3 hards and C4 yellow-marked medium compounds respectively.

Reigning world champion Verstappen emerged on a set of the C3 white-branded harder tyre.

The Dutchman was the first to register a lap-time of a 1:06.131 whilst both Aston Martin’s of Stroll and Alonso boxed before returning to the track.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto slotted into second with a 1:07.516 on the mediums to be 1.385 seconds off Verstappen’s initial benchmark.

The other Alpine A525 entry of Pierre Gasly bumped his team-mate to third with his medium tyre flyer to post a 1:06.800 as Verstappen improved to a 1:05.818 to go 0.982 seconds clear of the former’s effort.

Colapinto improved to a 1:06.995 but was not enough to go fastest as both Haas VF-25 entries of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman on the C5 softs slotted into P2 and P3 respectively, but were rapidly beaten by Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton and Gasly’s efforts who moved into second, third and fourth in the order.

Verstappen improved once more with a 1:05.568, but the Dutchman was then ousted by McLaren’s Norris who set the quickest sector two and three efforts to go fastest with a 1:05.412 on the softs.

Stroll and Alonso then jumped to fourth and fifth in the order on the mediums as Piastri planted his McLaren into third to be 0.382 seconds adrift of team-mate Norris as the final practice session reached the 20^th minute mark.

Bearman moved into fourth place with his 1:05.861 as Tsunoda was next and put in a 1:05.499 with a purple sector one and two personal bests to go 0.087 seconds off Norris’s benchmark.

Nico Hulkenberg was next in his Sauber and jumped into the top five setting a 1:05.648 as the German split Verstappen and Piastri in the classification.

Hamilton followed in his Ferrari, moving into second place with a 1:05.341 to be 0.453 seconds off as Mercedes pairing George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli on their soft tyre efforts slotted into eighth and 12^th.

The other Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto then placed his C47 into fifth and in-front of his team-mate with three personal bests, but Piastri then moved into third place to be 0.520 seconds off team-mate Norris as the session hit the 25^th minute mark.

Norris then improved again on his flying lap with a purple middle sector posting a 1:04.888 to go 0.380 seconds clear of Hamilton.

Russell then pushed his F1 W16 entry to third place in the order with a 1:05.366 to be 0.478 seconds off Norris’s benchmark with almost 30 minutes left in the session.

Russell’s team-mate Antonelli followed to go sixth quickest on a 1:05.526 to split the Red Bull’s of Tsunoda and Verstappen.

Leclerc was next posting two personal bests to go fifth overall with the C5 softs, the Ferrari driver set a 1:05.410 with 27 minutes remaining.

Albon came in with three personal bests to slot into sixth place in the order behind Leclerc and ahead of Tsunoda’s RB21 racer.

With 22 minutes remaining, Leclerc with two personal best efforts moved up into second with a 1:05.157 on the softs to be 0.269 seconds adrift of Norris’s benchmark.

Russell then with a purple and two personal bests demoted Leclerc to third as the Briton set a 1:05.018 as the former’s team-mate Antonelli followed in third to be 0.165 off Norris’s session-topping time.

With 18 minutes left on the clock, Alonso on his soft tyre hot-lap moved up into sixth place behind Hamilton.

Norris with 16 minutes left hit three purples to smash a 1:04.324 to go over 0.694 seconds clear of Russell at the head of the time-sheets as RB’s Isack Hadjar suffered a spin at the final corner.

Replays showed the Frenchman carried a lot of speed into the final corner and ran over the gravel at the exit and suffered the spin, but the VCARB02 managed to be unscathed, and the RB driver continued on.

Aston Martin’s Stroll and Sauber’s Bortoleto then slotted into fourth and sixth respectively with 14 minutes remaining on the clock.

Tsunoda was next as the Japanese driver jumped from 12^th to fifth overall with three personal bests to be 0.815 seconds off Norris’s top time.

Piastri then followed with a purple opening sector and two personal bests placed his MCL39 racer second behind his McLaren team-mate and 0.118 seconds off.

Leclerc with three personal bests slotted into third place to be 0.250 seconds off Norris as Hamilton moved into fourth behind his team-mate.

Verstappen then moved into third place with a 1:04.534 as the Red Bull driver ended up 0.210 seconds behind Norris’s benchmark with seven minutes remaining.

Antonelli was on course for a great lap with three minutes left, scoring two personal bests then suffered a wild moment through the gravel at the final corner and wounded up seventh behind team-mate Russell.

Replays showed Verstappen also suffered a pirouette out of the final corner, through the gravel trap. The Dutchman managed to be damage free and continued on.

The session ended with another McLaren one-two with Norris ahead of Piastri once more as Verstappen completed the top three.

The two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Hamilton followed in third and fourth respectively and ahead of the Mercedes pairing of Russell and Antonelli who took fifth and sixth in the classification.

Aston Martin’s Stroll placed seventh and in-front of Tsunoda who took eighth whilst Tsunoda and Bortoleto rounded out the top ten.

You can see the full Formula 1 MSC Cruises Austrian Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1264/austria/practice/3

2025 F1 World Championship Standings