McLaren dominates FP3 as qualifying approaches in Jeddah. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris topped the final practice session in Jeddah, reinforcing McLaren’s control over the weekend ahead of qualifying for the 2025 Saudi Arabian GP.
Ferrari and rookies fire the first shots
Lewis Hamilton led the front-runners onto the track, with Charles Leclerc and the McLaren duo following closely behind. In the opening 15 minutes, Oliver Bearman and Jack Doohan impressed by jumping to the top of the standings on soft tyres, briefly outpacing the Ferraris.
McLaren takes over early
McLaren quickly seized control of the session, lapping half a second quicker than their closest challenger, Haas. At the halfway mark, Oscar Piastri laid down a 1:28.470s lap to lead the field, while all drivers had already posted a time. George Russell climbed to P6, and rookie Kimi Antonelli slotted into P8, as the session ran smoothly.
The top ten tightens up
With 20 minutes left, Piastri led a competitive top ten that included Norris, Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, Russell, Albon, Tsunoda, and Hamilton. Gasly, Ocon, Antonelli, Hülkenberg, Doohan, Bearman, Hadjar, Alonso, Lawson, Stroll, and Bortoleto followed. Bortoleto stood out as the only driver on medium tyres while the rest opted for softs.
Norris snatches the top spot
In the final stint, drivers pushed for flying laps ahead of qualifying. Piastri lit up the timing sheets with a 1:27.513s, smashing the weekend’s fastest time. But Norris had the final word, edging out his teammate by 0.024s to , in the end, finish FP3 on top.
What’s next?
The final FP3 standings read: Norris, Piastri, Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc, Albon, Sainz, Gasly, Tsunoda, Antonelli, Hadjar, Hamilton, Lawson, Alonso, Bearman, Doohan, Hülkenberg, Ocon, Bortoleto, and Stroll.
Qualifying kicks off in two and a half hours, at 20:00 local time in Jeddah.
