Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc clocked the quickest time during final practice for Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix, amid a flurry of late lap times.
Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz sat atop the timesheets on Medium tyres for much of the session before Max Verstappen and then Leclerc moved in front.
Leclerc’s time of 1:16.714s left him just 0.020s clear of Verstappen, with Sainz only 0.077s behind his team-mate in third place.
Several drivers struggled to find additional time on the Soft tyres, which this year are the C5s, with Pirelli having gone one step softer with its compound selections versus 2023.
Sainz failed to improve on Soft tyres, with his Medium run remaining his personal best, while Verstappen complained “the car moves around too much” in high-speed on Softs prior to slotting into second.
Mercedes displayed an upturn in pace after a troubled Friday as Lewis Hamilton classified fourth, within a tenth of Leclerc, while team-mate George Russell was fifth.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took sixth position ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris bookended Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll at the foot of the top 10.
Yuki Tsunoda put his RB into 11th place, within a second of Leclerc, while Sauber took 12th and 14th respectively, Valtteri Bottas ahead of Zhou Guanyu.
Alex Albon was 13th in the sole remaining Williams, following the team’s withdrawal of Logan Sargeant’s entry, in the wake of Albon’s accident on Friday.
Alpine’s travails showed little sign of abating, with Esteban Ocon the lead driver in 15th spot, and Pierre Gasly the slowest of the 19 remaining competitors.
Haas wound up 16th and 17th respectively, with Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen split by just two hundredths of a second, while Daniel Ricciardo was unable to match the pace of team-mate Tsunoda and languished down in 18th spot.
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