F1 Saudi Arabian GP live commentary and updates - FP3

Well that's it from us until qualifying begind later this afternoon. Lando Norris fastest but it was teammate Oscar Piastri who led for most of the session. George Russell best of the rest for Mercedes but a yawning 0.627s behind the fastest McLaren.

We await McLaren team boss Andrea Stella's press conference tonight, where he will no doubt insist again that his team isn't dominant!

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Also tricky to judge where Leclerc is - currently P5 and four hundredths off Verstappen, but he's just had a push lap scuppered by coming across an Aston Martin and Alex Albon's Williams at the same corner. He reports on the radio that he has found the limit of the car.

Slightly confusing lap by Verstappen there. He goes P4 on 1m28.334, his last two sectors were personal bests, but his first sector was sub-optimal and he got a bit of tow from Lewis Hamilton at the end of the lap. So altogether quite difficult to quantify how successful it was. But the tale of the tape is that he's 0.845s off Norris right now.

Verstappen now out on a set of pre-used softs. Looks like he's doing two warm-up laps before he goes to push.

Piastri is done for now - he heads to the pits.

We thought Piastri was doing two warm-up laps but it looks like he kissed the barrier and aborted a push-lap. Lando Norris has leapfrogged him by 0.024s and returned to the garage.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Dear oh dear, a yellow middle sector and then a PB in the last merely elevates Lewis to P12. Four tenths off Leclerc but that's eight grid spots in today's money.

Hamilton now P16 but he's just done a personal-best first sector.

Incidentally, R3HAB was playing in Bahrain last weekend; Ronald and Fil tried to make me go but I said no, no, no.

Piastri and Norris back out on the same set of softs for another push. Meanwhile F1 TV is more interested in J-Lo in the Ferrari garage, wearing a shiny jumpsuit in a fetching shad of hot pink.

For those Kimi Antonelli fans out there - and we know you're out there, the 'driver of the day' vote tells us so - he's improved to 1m28.679 and is P8 as we type.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

You may recall Racing Bulls were wing-less when FP1 began yesterday. Isack Hadjar currently in the garage while a new rear wing is fitted and the DRS mechanism plumbed in.

Alex Albon P4 with a 1m28.389s - briefly, we suspect, because Leclerc is lighting up the timesheet green. Yes! A string of personal-best sectors puts Charles P4 on 1m28.37s.

The laptimes are falling as we enter the final quarter. Push push! George Russell does a 1m28.214, a personal best, but it's still only good for P3. Oscar Piastri flashes across the line in 1m27.513s, seven tenths faster than Russell. Remarkable. Lando Norris then posts a 1m27.671s; he was fastest in the final sector but Piastri was faster in the first two.

Leclerc also back out on track. Hamilton follows. They're both on new softs. Lewis will want to string something together here because his best lap so far is nearly half a second off his teammate.

McLarens out on new softs so expect to see some quick lappery soon.

Pierre Gasly has thrown his hat into the ring. Not very far into the ring since he's currently P10 on 1m29.188s. But that's still just under three tenths faster than Alpine teammate Jack Doohan's best so far. All this activity sends Antonelli down to P12.

It's George Russell's turn to head south on the timesheets as Carlos Sainz goes P5 on 1m28.896. Williams teammate Alex Albon is P7 after the same runs, a tenth and a half off.

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Lars Baron - Motorsport Images

For those teams on Ronaldwatch, he's just applied the curse to Fernando Alonso as 'Nando passes by in the pitlane. Mind how you go, Fernando!

After a quiet session so far for Mercedes, George Russell signals his presence by bunking Tsunoda down to P6. He's 0.446s off Piastri's benchmark; teammate Kimi Antonelli is P8, 0.878s slower than the current leader.

Piastri does a 1m28.470s. Yuki Tsunoda is out on a set of softs and posts a 1m29.096s - just a whisker off teammate Max Verstappen's best. But, as if to emphasis who's boss in that team, Max goes P3 with a 1m28.747s to clear Yuki by three tenths.

This is a public service announcement for the F1 teams. Our Dutch  Motorsport.com colleague Ronald Vording is out trackside and currently in residence at Turns1/2. Generally when Ronald goes trackside, someone shunts in front of him and has to be craned off, enabling Ronald to snap floor details on his phone. Beware!

Piastri and Norris riposte. Piastri has pitted but returned on the same set of softs and posts a 1m28.605s to go top; Norris has carried on circulating and, after a couple of cool-down laps, restores himself to P2 with 1m28.763s.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Lars Baron - Motorsport Images

Max Verstappen now top with 1m29.077s on soft tyres. We typed too soon: Charles Leclerc goes faster with the first lap below the 29s mark: 1m28.860s. Fascinating to see the tyre use on the Ferraris: both Leclerc and Hamilton have already done a push lap on their first set of softs before trying another. But Lewis's best is a 1m29.188s.

Isack Hadjar says "we really need to get rid of the drinks system" because it's sprung a leak. He says water is "flying" around his helmet. We would venture that he needs a better drinks system rather than none at all at a venue like this.

And another half second comes off the fastest time as Oscar Piastri crosses the line in 1m29.118s. Teammate Lando Norris follows in short order and is 0.085s off Piastri's time. Doohan, meanwhile, is asking his engineers to generate a screen grab of the F1 TV feed so he can work out what he's done wrong.

Both McLarens out on track on soft tyres so Doohan's time at the top is soon to come to an end. Plus he's going to have to explain himself to the stewards after the session for crossing the white line at the pit entry.

Doohan has been into the pits and come back out on the same set of tyres, now going for it with a lap that's purple in the first two sectors... and the third! Back to the top, over half a second faster than Bearman's previous benchmark and faster then he went yesterday.

Speaking of Lewis Hamilton, he was in something of a funk ofter practice yesterday and said his mission is to get into the top 10. 

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Oliver Bearman shaves 0.263s off his teammate's time to annexe the top spot; Charles Leclerc leaves the pits on softs.

Esteban Ocon now on top with a 1m30.515s. Isiack Hadjar and Lewis Hamilton exit the pits on hard and soft tyres respectively.

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Peter Fox - Getty Images

Track temperature dipping all the time, now down to 52 degrees. Not quite hot enough to fry an egg but you could warm some marshmallows on it. The Haas pairing of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon now join the fray on softs. Randomly the Astons have now moved to mediums.

Doohan goes to the top of the timesheets with a 1m30.613s lap. He won't be there for long because we were drilling down into the 28s yesterday. This is a track where you get faster the more laps you complete, because it's fast and flowing but also highly technical.

Jack Doohan, Alpine

Photo by: Peter Fox - Getty Images

And it's a mixed bag of run plans already. Bortoleto is out on medium-compound Pirellis, Jack Doohan is on softs, while the Aston Martin pairing are circulating on hards. House!

It will be interesting to see how Gabriel Bortoleto goes this afternoon since he missed FP2 yesterday because of a fuel leak; Sauber has changed his monocoque overnight. One person who won't be heading out straight away is Yuki Tsunoda, whose RB21 is currently minus a floor.

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photo by: Lars Baron

We are about to go live - not in the way Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene did on Saturday morning TV in the 1980s, of course. Speaking of Max Verstappen, our writers have had their say over whether he should move to Mercedes or not.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

We've even found an image of him stroking his chin pensively.

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE

The final hour of practice from Saudi Arabia is about to start. McLaren's Lando Norris topped the more representative FP2 session yesterday while Pierre Gasly brought cheer to the Alpine equipe by being fastest in the daytime FP1 hour. Max Verstappen was a little closer to the McLarens in FP2 but still a fair chunk of time off; yesterday he highlighted the role of a key member of staff poached from Red Bull who has contributed some aero-elasticity expertise...

You might say it's a bit rich of Red Bull to complain of McLaren's supposedly flexible rear wing while crediting a former RB man with its creation - we couldn't possibly comment.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images