FORMULA 1
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 Credit: Zak Mauger Championship leader Lando Norris set the fastest time in Saturday's Free Practice 3 session s grass fires take the centre stage of discussion, in the build up towards the day's later qualifying. Norris laid down an impressive lap time in the latter stages to narrowly beat his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, with a 1:27.965 being the time produced from Norris. The gap between Norris and Piastri would be 0.026, as Piastri's best lap time was a 1:27.991. Norris and Piastri were joined in the top three by British Mercedes driver George Russell who continues his strong pace around the Suzuka Circuit this weekend. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and reigning world champion Max Verstappen completed the top five. Taking centre stage in the discussion following Free Practice 3 is the re-occurring grass fires which caused two red flags in Free Practice 2 on Friday. On Saturday, during FP3, they would cause a further two red flags which is quite the concern ahead of qualifying later on. The second of the two red flags, appeared with five minutes to go with too little time remaining in the session to get it restarted before the timer ran out. How FP3 unfolded in JapanFree Practice 3 would kick start the Saturday on-track Formula One action, for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, and it would be an important session which the drivers and teams would need to run smoothly. Due to Friday's Free Practice 2 disruption, where there were four red flag stoppages, the teams and drivers missed out on potentially significant track running, which could aid them in the future sessions across the weekend - especially when race strategy is considered for Sunday's Grand Prix. 11:30 local time on Saturday and the green light would be on at the end of the pit lane to signify the start of the session. Drivers would begin to head out onto the circuit for the third and final practice session of the weekend's action. Early on it would be reigning champion Max Verstappen, who would lay down the first benchmark lap time of a 1:30.397. Verstappen would set it on the hard compound of tyre. Soon after, the session would see the first of two red flags, with the grass fire problem from Free Practice 2 returning in the first 10 minutes of Free Practice 3. The drivers would head back to the pit lane while the fires would be put out by the track marshals and fire safety crew. Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz would be the top three while the session was under red flag conditions with VCARB's Liam Lawson and Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda just behind them in fourth and fifth. 46 minutes remaining in the session and FP3 would be back underway when Race Control were satisfied that the fire had been put out. Unsurprisingly, drivers were keen to get on with setting some lap times and one of them in particular would be the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver went quickest of the session so far with a 1:29.107. Ferrari would have a 1-2 with Leclerc's teammate, Lewis Hamilton, going second fastest. The Scuderia were showing some pace and their competitive edge when it came to one lap speed. The two Ferrari cars would lead the two McLaren cars with 20 minutes of the session complete - Lando Norris third ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri in fourth. However, Leclerc's 1:29.107 would be beaten due to the track condition improving as time progressed. Piastri, who topped FP2 on Friday, went quickest in FP3 on Saturday with a 1:28.768. Piastri would be top but improvements from Leclerc would see him stay second fastest ahead of Lando Norris who made an improvement to go third. The top three were narrowly separated by just 0.050. Piastri, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton and Mercedes' George Russell, made up the top five at the session's halfway point. Russell was showing fine speed, just like he had done throughout the Friday sessions. However, he capitalised on his pace and went quickest of the session provisionally, with a 1:28.385. 20 minutes remaining and it was Russell, Leclerc and Hamilton the top three. The time was continuing to tick down as the Suzuka Circuit continued to be very busy with all drivers and teams needing to get lap times completed. Piastri returned to the top of the time sheets with a 1:27.991 for McLaren. The time for Piastri was almost four tenths better than the previous session best time from Russell. 10 minutes remaining and they would be the top two. Norris had been having a difficult session in comparison to his McLaren teammate Piastri but all would go away as the championship leader went quickest by 0.026. Norris' lap was a 1:27.965 and an outstanding attempt too. The session was abruptly halted with six minutes to go because of another red flag and another grass fire around the Suzuka Circuit - this time at the infamous 130R. This was likely caused by Gabriel Bortoleto dipping a wheel of his Sauber on the grass, while pushing on a lap. Despite best efforts of the team of marshals and fire staff, the session would not be restarted and this would be confirmed by Race Control, with 70 seconds remaining on the clock. Norris had the fastest time and would end Free Practice 3 how he ended Free Practice 1, which was fastest overall. The Brit would be part of a McLaren 1-2 with Piastri taking second place. The Papaya team definitely look the ones to beat heading into the later qualifying session. Another strong session from George Russell saw him finish third ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Max Verstappen who completed the top five. Just outside the top five would be Lewis Hamilton in sixth. Alex Albon continued his fine early-season form with a seventh-place finish in FP3 ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly. Home hero Yuki Tsunoda was ninth ahead of his former teammate Isack Hadjar, who finished every practice session in the top 10. Action would pause until qualifying would get underway at 15:00 local time - 07:00 UK Time. 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship: Round 3 - Japanese Grand Prix Free Practice 3 result
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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