After losing the first two games of the season due to COVID-19, Vettel’s difficult return to action in Australia continued as he fell out 20 minutes after the session. Vettel lost the back of his Aston Martin AMR22 car leaving the fast left-right sequence, causing it to run through the gravel and into the wall. Vettel quickly apologized to the team over the radio before getting out of the car safely and then returning to the paddock in the back of a scooter driven by a marshal. The crash came after Vettel missed running on Friday after an engine problem sidelined him in FP1 and prevented him from taking part in FP2. He was also fined 5,000 euros for driving an unlicensed scooter on the track at the end of FP1 to return to the paddocks. Things went from bad to worse for Aston Martin when Stroll lost control of his car at turn 11, causing it to run through the gravel and hit the wall with five minutes left. Stroll was unharmed, but the front left corner of his car was damaged by the collision, leaving the Aston Martin with a significant workload to complete before qualifying. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR22 Photo: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images The red flag meant that Norris took first place for McLaren in the 3rd FP, as most of the leading drivers failed to achieve low fuel consumption at the end of the session. Norris set a best lap time of 19.117 seconds on the soft tire to finish a tenth of a second away from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The British driver was called to relax under the delayed red flag due to a warning that appeared on his dashboard. Leclerc spent much of the session vying for first place with Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., Red Bull Sergio Perez and Alpine Fernando Alonso, who enjoyed a surprisingly competitive session. Leclerc, Perez and Alonso covered just 0.026 seconds from second to fourth, while Sainz was a few tenths behind in fifth. Daniel Ricciardo completed a decent session for McLaren as he finished sixth, half a second from his teammate time, while Max Verstappen was seventh for Red Bull. Verstappen had his best time with the middle composite tire, but had a difficult session that saw him spin at turn 13 before almost losing the back of his car while turning lap 1 while on a late lap. “I do not understand why I am coming back,” Verstappen said on the radio. “It’s really hard to feel balanced right now.” Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18 Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images Lewis Hamilton also struggled for Mercedes, finishing eighth after narrowly avoiding the wall when he ran wide in turn 11 early in the session. Former Valtteri Bottas teammate took ninth for Alfa Romeo ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who completed the top 10 for AlphaTauri. George Russell and Pierre Gasly finished 11th and 12th, respectively, ahead of Esteban Ocon, who was over eight-tenths of a second of Alonso’s time with his brother Alpine. Mick Schumacher finished 14th for Haas ahead of rookie Zhou Guanyu and Williams’ Alex Albon. Kevin Magnussen finished 17th in FP3 with difficulty until Friday after a night’s nausea, while Nicholas Latifi was 18th ahead of the two Aston Martins. Results F1 GP Australia – FP3
