Norris blitzes field as Red Bull Singapore struggles continue

Lando Norris blitzed the field in third practice ahead of this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, whilst Red Bull continued to struggle. 

The McLaren driver posted a 1:29.646 on his soft tyre run to top the session by almost half a second, ahead of George Russell. 

Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri was in third but almost eight tenths behind, whilst Max Verstappen was fourth yet 0.894s down on his title rival. As for his team-mate, Sergio Perez was 1.7s slower than Norris in P15. 

After demonstrating strong pace on Friday, Ferrari endured a frustrating FP3, as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in fifth and sixth were comfortably slower than Norris. Lewis Hamilton was 1.2s down in seventh.

Slow start as lizard triggers red flag

No drivers immediately took to the Marina Bay Circuit when the final practice session began, with track and air conditions not being representative of what will be experienced in qualifying or the race.

The Aston Martins were the first to take to the track almost three minutes into the session. A heavy overnight downpour had washed away any laid rubber, resulting in a low grip surface. 

For the first time this weekend, a lizard trotted onto the circuit at the final corner, perhaps out for revenge after Fernando Alonso struck one last year! A brief red flag was flown to safely move the lizard with 51 minutes remaining.

Three minutes later and the session resumed, with the majority of the field having left the pit lane. Piastri quickly reported that the balance of his MCL38 was much better than it was on Friday, highlighted by him being towards the top after 20 minutes. 

Long runs on the medium compound was the theme for most in the first half of the session, with Red Bull and Mercedes having posted encouraging times on the yellow-walled tyre after its Friday struggles. However, its problems continued on the softest rubber.

Alex Albon had a scare prior to the halfway point after brushing the wall on the inside of the high-speed Turn 15, causing a left-front puncture. 

Leclerc topped the session at the halfway mark on a 1:31.525, one-tenth ahead of Verstappen. Norris, Hamilton and Russell completed the top five who had all only run the medium tyres.

Soft tyre runs

With 20 minutes of third practice remaining, long runs were replaced by soft tyre qualifying runs. Russell was the first of the big names to post a hot lap. A 1:30.125 propelled him to the top of the timesheets. 

Interestingly, Piastri's first hot lap was three tenths slower than Russell's, whilst Hamilton's was 0.739s down on his team-mate's. 

Despite a positive run on the medium compound, Verstappen struggled on his first soft tyre lap and was four tenths slower than Russell. 

The entire field, though, were soon blitzed by Norris with 14 minutes remaining, as a 1:29.646 saw the Briton go almost half a second clear. 

Ferrari were the only team yet to show its soft tyre pace, although both Sainz and Leclerc were fitted with a set with 12 minutes to go. Sainz's initial hot lap was very disappointing, as the Spaniard only managed to go fifth fastest but 1.1s adrift of Norris.

Leclerc then pushed Sainz to sixth, as the Monegasque slotted into P5 himself raising question marks over whether Ferrari were running a heavier fuel load. 

However, Leclerc quickly complained of no grip and his car being "very slow". As for Sergio Perez, his soft tyre run was only good enough for a miserable P15, almost two seconds down on Norris.

It is advantage Norris ahead of qualifying in Singapore.