Lando Norris continued to give McLaren fans reasons to be optimistic ahead of today’s Qualifying session as he managed to the fastest time of a disrupted third Practice session.

The Brit, who briefly topped the times in the session’s opening stages, managed to hook up a 1:19.117 in the session’s closing stages with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc over a tenth back in second.

After a wild Friday, which saw several drivers make a trip through the Albert Park gravel traps, the weekend’s final Practice session promised to be an interesting one as the teams made their final adjustments before Qualifying.

Before the session commenced, race control announced that the number of DRS zone around the circuit would be reduced from four to three after the zone between Turns 8-9 was removed, with the first DRS activation zone beginning after Turn 10.

The first man out on track was Zhou Guanyu on a set of hard tyres, with Guanyu being followed out of the pits by his Alfa Romeo teammate Valtteri Bottas and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, who quickly returned to the pits after one installation lap.

Lance Stroll’s had his running severely interrupted after his Aston Martin was put up on the jacks in the garage, giving the Canadian a little bit more waiting time in the garage. His teammate Sebastian Vettel who dazzled viewers with his commandeering of a marshals scooter, did manage to go out in the session’s opening ten minutes, albeit he was quickly back into the pits.

Norris was the first to set a hot lap with the softs, as he managed to set a 1:21.247 in the much improved McLaren that donned new rear winglets. However, the Brit’s reign at the top ended shortly after the first big guns rolled up as Max Verstappen on mediums set a 1:21.178, briefly going fastest before Sergio Perez pipped him by over a tenth.

Leclerc went over three tenths quicker on the softs with a 1:20.689, but Perez quickly responded with a 1:20.436 on the mediums to move back to the front of the times. Fernando Alonso made it a Spanish 1-2 shortly afterwards as he managed to set a 1:20.119 over two tenths quicker than Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo.

Vettel’s dreadful weekend got even worse after the German overcooked it into Turn 10, wrecking the left side of the car and bringing out the red flag to remove the wrecked Aston Martin. The German wasn’t the only one struggling as Lewis Hamilton narrowly avoided the barrier at Turn 11 as he continued to wrestle with his W13.

After Vettel’s stricken Aston Martin was removed, the session restarted; with less than half an hour left, Alonso continued to lead Sainz, Ricciardo and Perez; Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas had another solid start with the fifth-fastest time, ahead of Leclerc and George Russell.

Verstappen had a hectic restart as he was investigated for a pit exit incident with Pierre Gasly before ​​pirouetting into a full 360 at the last corner. 

Alonso, meanwhile, was continuing to flex Alpine muscles as he set a 1:19.906, just +0.001 faster than Leclerc, but the Spaniard’s time at the front was short-lived as Perez managed to bank a 1:19.720 that was good enough for the Mexican to move to the front. But still, Alonso continued to attack the Albert Park circuit with great zest and his hard work was rewarded with a 1:19.660 putting him back at the top.

However, Perez wouldn’t give up the top spot without a fight, as the Mexican went two tenths faster on his next run to return to the top of the timesheets.

As the session neared its final 15 minutes, Sainz moved back to the front with a 1:19.419 on the used soft tyres; not long after, he nearly collided with Nicholas Latifi on the exit of Turn 8.

Norris replicated his heroics from the session’s early stages to return to the front after banking a 1:19.117.

Stroll completed Aston Martin’s horrendous morning with a shunt at Turn 11, wrecking the left front suspension of his AMR 22. With Stroll’s car stranded in the gravel trap, the session wasn’t resumed meaning that Norris finished the session fastest ahead of Leclerc and Perez, whilst Alonso was an excellent fourth for Alpine.

Sainz finished the session fifth ahead of local hero Ricciardo and Verstappen, who had to abort two hot lap attempts near the end of the session. Hamilton was eighth fastest ahead of Bottas and Yuki Tsunoda, who completed the top 10.