George Russell clears gap to Hamilton in FP3 at Australian GP
7th March 2026Mercedes’ George Russell has topped the final hour of practice in a red-flag-impacted session at the Australian Grand Prix, clearing a significant gap to his rivals.
Feature image credit: Mercedes F1 // Rudy Carezzevoli // Getty Images
Russell produced the third fastest time of the weekend in a practice session, becoming the third fastest driver behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
In the final hour of practice, Russell put in his strongest lap of the weekend with a 1m 19.053s lap, clearing a gap of 0.616s to his closest rival – and former teammate – Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc.
A total of 0.774s rounded out the top three, ahead of Piastri, who was 1.034s behind the Mercedes’ leading pace.
Following a big crash during the junior series, Formula 3, the start of the final hour of practice was delayed by 20 minutes as the marshals and FIA worked on the barrier repairs. But at 10 minutes to the hour, the session was able to get underway.
It wasn’t long before the session was interrupted as Williams’ Carlos Sainz had a mechanical failure at the penultimate corner. The Spaniard tried to idle his way back to the pits, but his car stopped on the pit entry.
As there was no safe way to extract Sainz’s car, the first red flag of the Formula 1 campaign – post-testing – was waved.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli brought out the second red flag of the session late on after the Italian crashed at turn two. The Mercedes driver spun out after running over the kerb, which sent him into the adjacent barrier before sending him back across the track.
The damage was severe and has produced a big repair job for the Mercedes mechanics to get the car ready for qualifying.
Only Sainz and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll failed to set a lap time on the board in the final hour of practice. The latter was required to have a rebuild of his car after Aston found yet another issue with their power unit.
Who finished where?
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren
- Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
- Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi
- Oliver Bearman, Haas
- Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
- Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
- Esteban Ocon, Haas
- Nico Hulkenberg, Audi
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine
- Franco Colapinto, Alpine
- Alexander Albon, Williams
- Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
- Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac
- Sergio Perez, Cadillac
- Carlos Sainz, Williams
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
Read more Formula 1 here:
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- Charles Leclerc pips Hamilton to fastest FP1 lap at Australian GP
- Valtteri Bottas will serve grid penalty at Australian Grand Prix
- Weather report: the latest forecast ahead of Australian Grand Prix
- Arvid Lindblad Takes F1 to the Streets of India
- Opinion: Was Alex Dunne Right to Choose Alpine?
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
