Australia – FP3: Vettel sets new circuit record, Stroll hits the wall

A studious start to the session

Romain Grosjean is the first driver to take to the track during these free practice sessions 3, as a few raindrops were seen on the paddock a few minutes before the session began. At Sauber, Antonio Giovinazzi replaces Pascal Wehrlein, who preferred to withdraw from this Grand Prix due to insufficient training during the off-season following his injury at the Race of Champions. This is the first Grand Prix participation for this driver, the first Italian driver since Jarno Trulli in 2011.

Daniel Ricciardo is the first driver to set a significant time with 1:25.58 on super-softs, before Kimi Räikkönen and then Sebastian Vettel improve the time on ultra-softs, with the quadruple world champion clocking 1:24.308. The Finn, during a second flying lap, is forced to go straight through the third sector due to a puncture on the left rear tire. Nevertheless, the 2007 world champion manages to return to the pits.

His teammate improves to 1:23.989, despite a big mistake in the last corners. The time set by Lewis Hamilton in Free Practice 2 is not too far for Ferrari.

Many drivers take to the track during the second quarter-hour of these tests, including Antonio Giovinazzi and Fernando Alonso, who wasn’t strapped in at the start of the session. Honda seems to have made some adjustments to its power unit, as the McLaren drivers were able to complete a program without reliability issues, although the performance is not there. This last practice session sees many drivers conducting start tests, which will be much more complicated this season with a new procedure and a much smaller clutch bite point. The clutch paddle has also been relocated, preventing the driver from relying on other elements to set the clutch correctly.

At Force India, 6 mechanics are busy cleaning Esteban Ocon’s car, the “pink panther” as the Frenchman calls it. At Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas clocks a first lap in 1:24.628 with super-soft tires, 7 tenths off the session’s best time. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, completes a lap in 1:24.542 for the second fastest time.

Behind the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers, Daniel Ricciardo is one second off the time of the two Mercedes. Fernando Alonso manages to push his McLaren and climbs to 13th place in the standings, which proves that the engine seems a bit more reliable and performant than during the Barcelona tests.

At Haas F1, the T-Wing placed at the end of the shark fin was raised for this session, and the aerodynamic element deforms much less than on Friday, showing consolidation work done by the American team. However, the brake issues that plagued the team last year are once again causing trouble for Romain Grosjean, who locks up the tires under braking.

The track record is broken

At mid-session, Daniel Ricciardo puts on the ultra-soft tires to compare his RB13 to the Ferrari on equal tires. It’s a gain of 0.5 seconds for the Australian, who remains 1.1 seconds off the reference time. Stoffel Vandoorne, for his part, misses the braking in the 3rd sector and takes a short tour in the grass. The best time is beaten with a 1:23.988 by Kimi Räikkönen, who uses a second set of ultra-soft tires for this session. The two Ferraris are within a thousandth of each other. But Sebastian Vettel attacks again and sets a 1:23.380, a new absolute record at Albert Park!

💨 VET clocks the fastest lap in Melbourne this year ➡️ 1:23.380 #AusGP 🇦🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/PDSVuiFeGm

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 25

This causes the Mercedes to come out on ultra-soft tires: Valtteri Bottas finishes 479 thousandths of a second behind the German’s time, while his teammate, the reigning triple world champion, finishes 490 thousandths behind! The Englishman put 2 wheels on the grass in the 3rd sector, which may have cost him a few tenths.

The last ten minutes see the drivers take off for attack laps, and it’s Lance Stroll who pays the price in turn 10! On a lap with ultra-soft tires, his Williams hits the wall, breaking his rear suspension: red flag with 9 minutes left in the session. The Canadian was on a total attack lap and lost the rear of his car on acceleration. The red flag will not allow the session to resume, as the tow truck carrying the Williams is even taking the track.

What to remember

So this is the end of the last free practice session of the weekend: Sebastian Vettel sets the fastest time of the weekend by establishing a new record on the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, ahead of the two Mercedes drivers, Valtteri Bottas ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Nico Hülkenberg follows Kimi Räikkönen in the standings, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. The two Haas drivers and Toro Rosso complete the top 10.

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