Lando Norris bounces back as trio of drivers hit Wall of Champions

Lando Norris bounced back from a disappointing Friday to post the leading time in final practice ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Norris described Friday running at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as McLaren's worst of the season as the team was off the pace compared to its rivals.

But the British driver emerged fastest in a fascinating FP3 with a lap of 1:11.799s, pipping Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 0.078s after a late flier for the Monégasque who performed his own 'bounce back' after missing most of Friday following an early crash in FP1.

Mercedes' George Russell, Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen were all in close contention by the close.

As for Norris' McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, he was one of three drivers to hit the Wall of Champions, smacking it with the right-rear wheel of his MCL39, suffering an instant puncture. As he limped back to the pits, likely fearing suspension damage, Nico Hulkenberg was fortunate to avoid a major crash at the same spot.

Bouncing off the kerb out of the chicane, the Stake driver was spat into a 360-degree spin in front of the 'Wall of Champions', resulting in the rear-wing clipping it. A few centimetres more and it would have been a major shunt.

With bits of carbon fibre on the track from both cars, that of the McLaren especially, race director Rui Marques red-flagged the session for five minutes to clear the debris.

Haas driver Oliver Bearman later hit the wall hard with his right-rear but unlike Piastri, remarkably escaped unscathed.

A thriller of a session

Following a slow start, with no car on track for the opening four minutes, Williams' Franco Colapinto, slowest on Friday, set the ball rolling with a lap of 1:15.366s on soft tyres, and it remained the only time on the board for the opening 10 minutes.

At which point, Leclerc finally emerged from the Ferrari garage after the chassis change on his SF-25. The Monégasque instantly set a fast lap of 1:14.104s, but it was a leading time that did not last long as Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso posted a 1:13.050s.

Leclerc, naturally needing to make up for lost time, soon returned to the head of affairs with a 1:12.843s, and impressively on the medium compound.

Over the opening 20 minutes there was mix of softs and mediums on show, predominantly with teams working out what might be the best qualifying tyre.

This year's red-striped Pirelli is the new C6, the softest rubber created in the Italian manufacturer's range, whilst the medium is the soft from a year ago. Russell was quickest on Friday with the medium.

With Leclerc out in front, there came the double hit of the Wall of Champions, first from Piastri, and then a lap later via Hulkenberg.

Once running resumed after the red flag, Norris eased past Leclerc by almost half a second on the mediums. Moments later, Russell edged ahead by 0.046s on the softs.

Surprisingly, Hamilton then threw himself into the mix with a medium-tyre run of 1:12.279s before Russell became the first driver into the one minute 11s with a 1:11.950s, again on soft rubber, 0.329s clear of his former Mercedes team-mate.

Back on track after his 'Wall of Champions' skirmish, Piastri finally posted a solid lap with a 1:12.519s to elevate himself to fifth quickest with 20 minutes remaining.

Hamilton then moved to within exactly a tenth of Russell before Norris made it a British 1-2-3 with 13 minutes to run with a best lap of 1:11.799s to move ahead of by 0.151s.

That was how it remained until Leclerc's late burst broke up the British monopoly.

Behind Verstappen, who was 0.273s down, Alonso was sixth, followed by Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes, then Piastri and Williams duo Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, the latter 0.774s adrift.

The session was a disaster for the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda due to brake issues that confined him to the garage for most of it. The Japanese driver finally returned with seven minutes remaining but finished bottom, 1.774s down.