The third and final free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix is over. The teams and drivers should now be ready to go into qualifying. In the third session of the F1 weekend, Red Bull Racing was the odd man out by running on a different tire. Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris are the fastest

Red Bull tries something out

The third free practice session starts quietly with a few laps for the McLaren drivers. Remarkably, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez also go straight out on the yellow tire in addition. It seems that Red Bull found something last night or this morning that they want to try out. After fifteen minutes the practice really gets going when the Ferrari's come out as well.

Except for Red Bull, everyone is driving on the red tire. The times are slightly slower in VT3 because one of the four DRS zones has been removed for safety reasons. As the drivers drive into the track and trump each other's times, it seems to be a quiet progression of the final practice session in preparation for qualifying.

Red flag for Vettel

After twenty minutes the red flag is shown. In sector three the yellow flag waves first, after Lewis Hamilton makes an excursion through the gravel pit. The yellow flag is not gone yet, but the next one quickly changes to the fourth red flag of the F1-weekend. Sebastian Vettel 's miserable weekend is complete. The German smashes his car into the wall. Vettel's first weekend in 2022 has so far been good for just eighteen laps.

After a good ten minutes, the session is resumed as stress hits Aston Martin who have to get the Heppenheimer's AMR22 ready in time for qualifying a good two hours later. After the restart, most of the cars shoot out again. Verstappen then also opts for the yellow tire again and seems to leave the fast 'qualifying runs' behind for a while. In the last corner section of his first lap, we see a rare mistake from the Dutchman. A full spin on the grass, but Verstappen is able to drive on.

Alonso doing well, Magnussen not this time

Other drivers that stand out this season are Kevin Magnussen who returned to Haas F1 and had a rock-solid start, Valtteri Bottas who was 'transferred back' from Mercedes to Alfa Romeo, but can still compete against his former team and Fernando Alonso who drove the same times as the Red Bull drivers and Ferrari drivers this third session. Haas seems to be in slightly worse shape in Australia after the first two weekends. It was always a problem for Haas to develop in previous years. It is only the beginning of the weekend, but it already looks a little less this third race. For Bottas, things are not looking bad, as the Finn is driving in the top ten for the entire session.

With only ten minutes to go, Verstappen comes out again. Only then does the Dutchman drive on the red tire. On that red tire he doesn't have a great run and it seems as if the Red Bull is hard to keep under control; several laps in a row he suffers from oversteer. In addition, Verstappen also suffers from crowding on the track again. It could be very tough for Verstappen in qualifying against Ferrari. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are again driving a very solid session with fast times and a stable car. The session finally ends four minutes before time with a second red flag. Also this time by an Aston Martin, but this time the one of Lance Stroll.

Norris takes P1 with a 1:19.117

Leclerc is behind and Alonso rounds up the top 3! #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/h5qyWpywoB

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2022