Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made a statement for McLaren ahead of Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying, topping final practice in Jeddah with a margin of more than six tenths of a second to the next fastest car.
After coming off second best at the end of Friday practice, Piastri had two tenths on Norris after the early running in FP3, where the initial qualifying simulations suggested a relatively tight fight at the front - with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull both lapping within a tenth of Norris.
But as the track temperature continued to fall and the drivers took a second set of tyres for a final flourish in the last 15 minutes or so, the McLarens came alive and extended their advantage significantly.
This time Norris narrowly got the upper hand, finding more than a second on that fresh set of tyres to lap in 1m27.489s and take top spot back with his second push lap.
Norris was just 0.024s quicker than Piastri - whose second flying lap was compromised by a massive oversteer moment through one of Jeddah’s high-speed eases.
After a difficult Friday George Russell hauled his Mercedes to the third quickest time in FP3, 0.603s behind Piastri - with Verstappen improving to a 1m28.334s best to remain fourth.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff suggested McLaren was again in a “league of their own” in the high temperatures, rather than benefitting from running more powerful engine modes than the other cars.
Verstappen switched places with Leclerc’s Ferrari in the final classification, with Leclerc fifth fastest and just 0.038s behind the Red Bull. Leclerc complained at the end of the sesson he “cannot go any faster in the corners”.
Williams again showed 'king of the midfield' pace in FP3, with Alex Albon sixth and Carlos Sainz seventh - two tenths apart - and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in the mix too with the eighth quickest time.
Yuki Tsunoda tracked Verstappen’s pace pretty well through the early part of the session, but fell away slightly as the track cooled and he ended up ninth, more than three tenths down on the lead Red Bull.
Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top 10, ahead of Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls and the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, who again failed in his quest to crack the top 10 and finished FP3 nearly 1.3s off the pace.
After a very dispondent Friday, Hamilton still looked and sounded uncomfortable in FP3. When his engineer Riccardo Adami informed Hamilton how much time he was losing in each sector, Hamilton’s response was simply “jeez”.
FP3 results
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m27.489s
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.024s
3 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.627s
4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.845s
5 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.883s
6 Alex Albon (Williams) +0.900s
7 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.081s
8 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.136s
9 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +1.181s
10 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.190s
11 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +1.280s
12 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +1.291s
13 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.372s
14 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.399s
15 Jack Doohan (Alpine) +1.409s
16 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.500s
17 Nico Hulkenberg +1.731s
18 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.847s
19 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +1.921s
20 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.989s
