McLaren sets the pace with thorn-on-their-side Verstappen dangerously close

Lando Norris took the top spot in FP3 with a 1:04.324, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri and title rival Max Verstappen in P3, with the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton closing off the top 5.

The start of FP3 was slow with drivers not in a mad rush to take to the track. Max Verstappen doneed on a set of hard tyres, leaving him with two sets of medium tyres and a set of hards for the race. He provisionally topped the timing sheets with a 1:06.131.

After the first 20 minutes of the session, both Mercedes cars still sat in the garage with Lando Norris taking P1 from Verstappen still on the hards, and Oscar Piastri slotting in behind the Dutchman and ahead of Yuki Tsunoda who was half a second behind his Red Bull teammate despite being on the softs.

By the halfway mark, Norris had improved on his time to a 1:04.888, trailed by Lewis Hamilton at nearly 4 tenths.Piastri was half a second off in P3 followed by Tsunoda and Verstappenwho continued to be on the hards. Sauber was in P6 and P7 with Gabriel Bortoleto leading Nico Hulkenberg, followed closed by the Williams of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, with Charles Leclerc completing the top 10.

As the final 15 minutes started clocking down, Norris had just improved his previous time by more than half a second, leaving Russell and Antonelli in P2 and P3 at around 7 tenths behind him. Lance Stroll sat in P4, followed by Leclerc, Bortoleto, Hamilton, Bearman,Albon and Alonso. Piastri, Tsunoda placed P11 and P12 with Verstappen stuck in the garage as his mechanics worked on the floor of his RB21.

In the finalminutes Norrris led Piastri by a little over a tenth, as Verstappen trailed both McLarens by 2 tenths, Leclerc and Hamilton followed the Dutchman albeit with the British driver over 2 tenths bahind his teammate.