McLaren ace Lando Norris topped the third and final practice session for the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
His benchmark of 1:27.489s was frationally faster than team-mate Oscar Piastri, who completed a McLaren one-two, 0.024s behind.
The duo enjoyed a hefty margin of six tenths over the rest of the competition.
F1 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – FP3 Results
One final hour of daytime running preceded Saturday night’s qualifying session, with drivers setting out to fully get to grips with the fearsome Jeddah venue.
Yuki Tsunoda’s progress was halted, as the Red Bull team had been tirelessly working at fixing his RB21 after the Japanese driver’s shunt at the end of FP2 on Friday.
So, after staying up late to fix the RB21 and putting the final nuts and bolts together on Saturday afternoon, Tsunoda’s crew released him into the FP3 session with more than half an hour left to run.
As the session drew to a close and the temperatures cooled, conditions couldn’t get any closer to what would be experienced in qualifying, and Softs were the tyre compound of choice.
Thus, the resulting classification shows once again that McLaren is the team to beat.
That’s beacuse third-place man George Russell was a whole 0.627s behind Norris and 0.603s behind Piastri in his Mercedes W16.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was next up, just shy of nine tenths from Norris’ benchmark as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc complete the top five.
Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz gave Williams reasons to cheer in sxirh and seventh, as FP1 chart-topper Pierre Gasly slotted into eighth for Alpine.
In ninth place, and roughly three tenths of his Red Bull team-mate was Tsunoda as Andrea Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top-10 for Mercedes.
Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar was just outside the top-10, having made rear wing adjustments late on in the session.
The two Racing Bulls drivers sandwiched 12th-placed Lewis Hamilton, who was some four tenths off of his Ferrari team-mate.
Behind 13th-placed man Liam Lawson was the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and Jack Doohan’s Alpine, making them fringe Q2/Q1 candidates for qualifying.
Lance Stroll propped up the order in the second Aston Martin, behind Haas (Oliver Bearman, 16th, Esteban Ocon, 18th) and Sauber (Nico Hulkenberg, 17th, Gabriel Bortoleto, 19th).
Behind McLaren a remarably tight field saw third through 16th covered by less than a second.
READ MORE – Lando Norris ‘on the right track’ with McLaren in Saudi Arabia
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