Russell breaks Antonelli's practice streak ahead of Qualifying in Austria

After Antonelli set the pace in both FP1 and FP2 on Friday, that trend did not continue on Saturday. Russell's fastest lap was a 1:07.096. The Italian finished second, ahead of Hamilton, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. With the upgraded RB22, Max Verstappen finished sixth in FP3. The action will continue at 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT) with qualifying for the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix.

In hot conditions, drivers were not too eager to get on track. As the session began, many competitors were still chatting with their engineers or simply getting ready. The current championship leader, Antonelli, also received some final words of advice from his father, Marco.

After experiencing issues on Friday, Sergio Perez was the first driver to head out on track as the lights turned green at the start of FP3. More cars then began joining the session around 15 minutes in.

After the first 20 minutes, Norris set the pace with a 1:07.8 on the soft tyres, leading Hamilton and Russell. A couple of minutes later, Antonelli improved the quickest time to a 1:07.5. Over the next ten minutes, drivers continued to improve, but no one could go faster than Antonelli's lap. Russell was then in second place with a time two hundredths of a second slower than his teammate's, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Verstappen. However, on his next attempt, Antonelli then improved to a 1:07.1.

Entering the final ten minutes, drivers fitted another set of soft tyres. Antonelli could not improve on his first attempt, but no one was able to match his previous lap time. Hamilton remained second, ahead of Russell and Piastri. However, in the closing moments, Russell set another purple lap and, as a result, topped FP3.