Verstappen leads Alonso in final practice

After Friday’s rain-affected FP2, Saturday’s final practice session predominantly took place on a dry Albert Park circuit despite the threatening Melbourne clouds, although a morning drizzle had further washed away the rubber that had been built up over the weekend.

Due to the Friday disruptions, most teams wasted little time taking to the track to get both their high fuel and qualifying runs in.

World champion Verstappen opened his account with a 1m19.664s on medium tyres and after briefly being deposed by Ferrari man Carlos Sainz’s soft-tyre effort, the Dutchman reclaimed his early P1 with a 1m18.741s.

Verstappen’s time, the only medium lap from the frontrunners, was soon bested by the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque went top with a 1m18.731s on softs, which he then filed down to a 1m.18.691s.

The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez remained in the garage for the opening stages as the Mexican’s mechanics worked on the rear of his RB19. Following Friday’s messy sessions the loss of track time was even more costly for Perez than usual.

After the 15-minute mark times took another tumble with Fernando Alonso setting a 1m18.329s in his soft-shod Aston Martin, which was instantly improved upon with a 1m18.127s fired in by Sainz.

Fortunately for Perez, his mechanical issue was resolved so he could join the session after 20 minutes, but he fumed as he was nearly put into the wall on his first push lap by the cruising Haas of Nico Hulkenberg.

The session was briefly red-flagged just past the halfway mark for a large piece of debris from Nyck De Vries’s AlphaTauri sidepod, which landed near the racing line near the fast Turn 9 kink, but after three minutes the action continued uninterrupted until the chequered flag.

The rapidly improving track conditions led to a barrage of fast times in the final 10 minutes, before a drizzle near Turn 1 intensified and caused the likes of Perez and Leclerc to run wide.

Alonso briefly grabbed top with a 1m17.727s, only for the following car of Verstappen to demote him with a 1m17.565s.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon also utilised the improved track conditions to move up the order, taking third 0.373s behind Verstappen and 0.017s ahead of Mercedes man George Russell.

The second Alpine of Pierre Gasly was fifth, followed by Perez, who saw two of his hotlaps ruined by locking up under braking and taking to the run-off.

Sainz and Lewis…