Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of the session on Saturday in Australia. A lap of 1:24.507 put him ahead of his team-mate, Mark Webber, by over eight tenths.
The Red Bull’s easily dominated the closing stages of practice when they switched to the soft compound tyres, jumping both McLaren’s to secure P1 & P2 by over a second.
Vitaly Petrov impressed in the Renault, jumping to fifth fastest, whilst Fernando Alonso kept with the leading pack to go sixth.
A few minor issues during practice saw Vitantonio Liuzzi retire after a single lap in his HRT with an electrical issue, meanwhile his team-mate, Narain Karthikeyan, completed five laps – his first on the new car, though he managed a time over 17 seconds behind Vettel.
Williams had a poor outing with veteran Rubens Barrichello suffering a gearbox issue, limiting his running to just seven laps. His team-mate, Pastor Maldonado, made an error into turn three, beaching the car in the gravel after just five.
Australian GP Free Practice 3 Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:24.507 | 15 | |
| 02. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:25.364 | +0.857 | 14 |
| 03. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:25.553 | +1.046 | 15 |
| 04. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:25.567 | +1.060 | 16 |
| 05. | V. Petrov | Renault | 1:25.906 | +1.399 | 18 |
| 06. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:26.121 | +1.614 | 16 |
| 07. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:26.417 | +1.910 | 17 |
| 08. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:26.520 | +2.013 | 17 |
| 09. | N. Heidfeld | Renault | 1:26.746 | +2.239 | 17 |
| 10. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:26.856 | +2.349 | 15 |
| 11. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1:27.008 | +2.501 | 17 |
| 12. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:27.011 | +2.504 | 15 |
| 13. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1.27.066 | +2.559 | 14 |
| 14. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:27.087 | +2.580 | 15 |
| 15. | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:27.180 | +2.673 | 15 |
| 16. | R. Barrichello | Williams | 1:28.068 | +3.561 | 7 |
| 17. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:28.077 | +3.570 | 9 |
| 18. | H. Kovalainen | Team Lotus | 1:29.772 | +5.265 | 17 |
| 19. | J. Trulli | Team Lotus | 1:30.003 | +5.496 | 18 |
| 20. | T. Glock | Virgin | 1.30.261 | +5.754 | 15 |
| 21. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:30.496 | +5.989 | 5 |
| 22. | J. d’Ambrosio | Virgin | 1:30.704 | +6.197 | 18 |
| 23. | N. Karthikeyan | Hispania | 1:41.554 | +17.047 | 5 |
| 24. | V. Liuzzi | Hispania | No Time | 1 |
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