Verstappen leads margin top three in final Singapore practice

Max Verstappen led the way in Free Practice 3, but with just 0.049s covering the top three, the razor-thin margins set up a thrilling fight for pole in tonight’s Singapore qualifying.

The final hour of practice was a critical one, with the field drastically impacted by yesterday evening’s disrupted session and needing to maximise the remaining minutes ahead of tonight’s weighted Qualifying session. 

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It was a gradual start to FP3, with the drivers taking their time in exiting the pitlane across the opening five minutes.

One of the first to venture onto the Marina Bay Street Circuit was Liam Lawson, putting his repaired VCARB 02 to the test after a run-in with the wall during FP2 led to some overtime for the Racing Bulls mechanic.

Pushing the limit too hard, however, Lawson’s session came to a crashing end for a second time this weekend when he found the wall at Turn 7, with the kerbs getting the better of the Kiwi, who was spat into the concrete surroundings.

Shedding his front wing and destroying the right side of the car, the Racing Bulls mechanics were left with a huge task ahead of the quickly approaching shootout.

“Yeah, mate. I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what happened, I just got on the kerb,” the Kiwi voiced over team radio. 

Oscar Piastri was an instant standout during FP3, with the Australian instantly slotting into second-fastest with a time of 1:32.554s.

Continuing to circulate on the medium compound, a Red Flag after fifteen minutes of running brought his personal improvements to a halt.

When the session resumed, Piastri got stuck into his long-run program, completing nine laps on the medium compound tyre before scrubbing another set ahead of his qualifying simulations.

On his first flying C5 lap, the Australian set personal best sectors to cross the line three-tenths behind Lando Norris, however, Piastri eventually dropped to P7.

On his final flying run, purple sectors found their way back into the #81’s repertoire, rewarding Piastri with a time of 1:30.165s, which placed him as the second fastest driver when the chequered flag waved.

Just 17 milliseconds stood between Piastri and the top spot, with Max Verstappen seemingly one of the men to beat ahead of tonight’s crucial qualifying session.

As for the rest of the field, it was the Australian’s teammate who topped the opening timesheets on the medium tyre, with Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the initial top three.

The two Williams drivers were the first to launch on the soft compound, expectedly claiming P1 and P2, however, track evolution quickly saw Norris reclaiming his place at the head of the field by almost one second. 

Carlos Sainz closed the margin to three-tenths as he continued with early qualifying simulations on the C5 tyre, however, the Lawson-derivative Red Flag paused the Spaniard’s progression for ten minutes while the wreckage was cleared. 

With 35 minutes on the clock, drivers were given the green light to resume their practice programs, with the eager queue hurrying their way out of the pitlane, including five drivers who were yet to record a timed lap.

Picking up where they left off, Williams were back on the hunt as Sainz and Albon traded fastest sectors across the 4.9km circuit, however, Car No.55 soon found itself in the run-off area at Turn 14 after locking up and smartly aborting the attempt. 

The Mercedes duo joined the customer team on the red-marked tyre for their very first moments on track in FP3, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli settling into P5 and P6 — notably behind Max Verstappen, who was the last driver to clock a lap. 

Knocking the Dutchman down a notch, Lewis Hamilton showed some promise as he moved into P4, less than a tenth shy of the man he replaced at Ferrari, while potentially costly news came through of the #44 being under investigation for a Red Flag infringement.

The man who replaced Hamilton was having a much better time on track, with Antonelli jumping to the very peak of the order with a new benchmark time of 1:30.760s.

With just over fifteen minutes remaining in FP3, a brief lull fell over the circuit in anticipation of qualifying simulations, with the field then returning on the soft compound tyre for a 10-minute shootout.

Charles Leclerc was the first to launch on the C5, moving just one-tenth ahead of the Mercedes rookie before his lap was outpaced by almost half of the field.

Taking the lead position at the end of the first C5 flying runs, Verstappen was the frontrunner with a time of 1:30.148s, edging ahead of Russell by just four hundredths of a second as the Mercedes driver admitted to lacking confidence at the corner where his FP2 session came to a premature end.

The next three places were also occupied by Mercedes-powered challengers, with Norris, Antonelli, and Sainz rounding out the fastest five.

As the session neared its end, Antonelli found an extra ounce of pace to steal Norris’ position and settle into a temporary P3, however, Piastri’s late burst knocked the rookie out of the headlines and led to a final top three separated by just 0.049s.

With the margins in FP3 so narrow, anticipation is building for what promises to be a thrilling qualifying showdown under the Singapore lights.

Setting the grid for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, the hour shootout will kick off at 23:00 AEST tonight.

Image: Clive Mason/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

Singapore GP Free Practice 3 Results:

2025 Singapore Grand Prix Schedule (AEST):

Friday, October 3rd:

FP1: 19:30 – 20:30

FP2: 23:00 – 00:00

Saturday, October 4th:

FP3: 19:30 – 20:30

Qualifying: 23:00 – 00:00

Sunday, October 5th:

Race: 23:00

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