FP3: Russell goes fastest from Antonelli and Hamilton in final Austria practice

George Russell ended the third and final practice session of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend on top, the Mercedes driver pipping team mate Kimi Antonelli during the closing stages to go fastest.

Sergio Perez was the first to hit the track amid a quiet start to the session at 1230 local time, the Mexican seemingly keen to gain some extra mileage after both he and team mate Valtteri Bottas experienced issues that cut short their running in Free Practice 2.

On another hot day at the Red Bull Ring – with air temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius at the beginning of FP3 – it was not until around 10 minutes into the hour that Perez had some company on the circuit, as a few other cars made their way out onto the track to put their early laps on the board.

The action picked up as the session continued, with more drivers emerging amid a range of tyre compounds at play during the opening runs. Most of the pack had opted for the soft, however – including Lando Norris, who topped the timesheets after 20 minutes with a lap of 1m 07.832s in the McLaren.

It did not appear to be entirely smooth sailing for the Briton, though, who was informed that his left mirror was “completely broken” before returning to the pits. Meanwhile team mate Oscar Piastri had slotted into P2 – only for both to be pushed down by Antonelli, who promptly went quickest by nearly three tenths from Norris.

Max Verstappen was the last to hit the track and moved into second place, but the Dutchman also reported that he was experiencing “constant weird interference” and would need to change his earplugs.

As the hour moved towards its halfway point, Antonelli remained on top with his effort of 1m 07.533s, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc progressing to P2 and Russell in P3. Meanwhile Carlos Sainz – down in P18 for Williams – was shown a black and white flag for driving unnecessarily slowly.

While Russell subsequently climbed to second place, another flyer for Antonelli saw the Italian improve his benchmark further to a time of 1m 07.134s, putting him just over four tenths ahead of his team mate.

Red Bull looked to be running different programmes with their drivers, Isack Hadjar having spent many laps on the hard tyre while Verstappen continued on the soft. Elsewhere there were further troubles for Sainz, who slid off track entering into the final corner amid increasingly warm conditions.

As the majority of the frontrunners bolted on a new set of soft tyres, all eyes were on the timesheets to see if anybody could topple Antonelli. Lewis Hamilton initially went quickest of all in the first sector but ultimately ended the lap 0.77s adrift of the championship leader, while the other Ferrari of Leclerc suffered a lock-up into Turn 3.

Despite remaining in P1, Antonelli did not improve on his previous effort – but Russell outpaced him to sneak into the top slot on a lap of 1m 07.096s, going 0.038s quicker than the other Mercedes. Hamilton, meanwhile, was 0.115s back from Russell in third, ahead of the McLaren pair of Piastri and Norris in fourth and fifth respectively.

Verstappen wound up in sixth, with Leclerc, Hadjar and the Racing Bulls machines of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad rounding out the top 10. Pierre Gasly classified 11th for Alpine, followed by the Audis of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto in the sister Alpine and Haas duo Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon.

Three more sets of team mates completed the order, that being Sainz and Alex Albon for Williams in P17 and P18, the Cadillacs of Perez and Bottas in P19 and P20 and Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in the final slots of P21 and P22.

With the final practice hour complete, the attentions of the paddock will now switch to Qualifying, which is set to get underway at 1600 local time.