Charles Leclerc pips Max Verstappen in FP3 as Mercedes make big improvement

Charles Leclerc continued his strong start to the Australian Grand Prix weekend as he topped final F1 practice ahead of Max Verstappen.

Leclerc left it late to take top spot off teammate Carlos Sainz, whose impressive medium tyre lap sat at the top of the order for much of FP3.

As the chequered flag fell, Verstappen surged to the top of the order with a 1m16.734s on the C5 soft tyre.

Leclerc pipped him by just 0.020s to top final practice ahead of qualifying.

Sainz was unable to improve on the softs, ending third overall, within a tenth of Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton led a much improved Mercedes, also less than tenth shy of Leclerc’s benchmark.

George Russell backed Hamilton up to make it two Mercedes cars in the top five, while Fernando Alonso was sixth overall.

Sergio Perez could only manage seventh in the second RB20, 0.3s down on Leclerc.

Oscar Piastri was eighth in another underwhelming session for McLaren, with Lance Stroll and Lando Norris completing the top 10.

Yuki Tsunoda led the midfield pack in 11th, just under 0.2s behind Norris.

Valtteri Bottas was a strong 12th for Sauber, with the team introducing a new front wing this weekend.

The second home hero this weekend, Daniel Ricciardo, was 18th fastest.