McLaren Dominates Saudi GP Final Practice

McLaren demonstrated strong performance in the final practice session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with Lando Norris slightly outperforming his teammate Oscar Piastri.

Norris recorded the fastest lap at 1:27.489, just 0.024 seconds ahead of Piastri at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. There was a significant gap of six-tenths of a second to George Russell of Mercedes, who finished third. This suggests that McLaren could be in a strong position to compete for pole position in the qualifying session later today.

Throughout the practice, Piastri seemed to have a slight edge, but he made a mistake on his final flying lap attempt. Norris, on the other hand, improved his time and took the top spot.

World champion Max Verstappen in his Red Bull was fourth fastest, followed closely by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

Norris is currently leading Piastri in the championship standings by three points. He mentioned earlier in the week that he has adjusted his driving technique to better suit McLaren`s 2025 car.

Lewis Hamilton`s difficult start with Ferrari continued as he finished in 12th place, more than a second behind the leading McLarens and four-tenths slower than his teammate.

Williams seems to be a strong competitor among the top teams, with Alex Albon finishing sixth, ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz.

Yuki Tsunoda in the other Red Bull car finished ninth. He missed the beginning of the session due to repairs needed after his crash in the second practice on Friday.

McLaren`s impressive pace is a warning to their rivals. However, the fact that they achieved this performance in hot conditions means other teams might have a chance to close the gap in the cooler qualifying session that will take place under the lights.

Despite this hope, it will likely require an exceptional effort to prevent McLaren from securing what would be their fourth pole position in five qualifying sessions this season.

Karun Chandhok from Sky Sports F1 commented that McLaren might have increased engine power or reduced fuel load in their cars for this session.

He believes that the gap between Russell, Verstappen, McLaren and others will likely be smaller in qualifying, similar to what was observed in Bahrain.

Chandhok suggests McLaren might be aiming to maximize performance in FP3 to give their drivers more practice. This strategy seems effective as they have secured pole position in all races except for Japan so far.

Saudi Arabian GP Practice Three Results