Norris makes statement as McLaren smash rivals in Jeddah

Lando Norris and McLaren turned the heads of their F1 rivals with stunning lap times that suggest qualifying will result in a front-row lock-out for the team barring mistakes.

With fresh sets of soft tyres bolted onto the McLarens late in the hour-long session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with the sun fading and track temperatures initially in the low 50s Celsius at the start before dipping to 46 by the close, Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri were head and shoulders clear of the rest.

Behind the leading duo, their nearest challenger was Mercedes' George Russell, just over six-tenths of a second adrift. Only three other drivers were within a second of Norris - Red Bull's Max Verstappen,  Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, and Alex Albon in his Williams.

As for Lewis Hamilton, it was another session to forget for the seven-time F1 champion in his Ferrari due to his failure to hook up the car around the lap. The 40-year-old finished 12th on the timesheet, 1.291s behind Norris, and four-tenths adrift of Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri surge clear

With the conditions again unrepresentative, with track temperature notably more than 50 degrees Celsius compared to what will be exoerienced in qualifying and for the race.

That did not stop Gabriel Bortoleto from taking to the circuit first, and understandably so after missing all of the representative FP2 session after a fuel leak was discovered on his car forcing him to miss all of the session.

The overwhelming majority of drivers, though, stayed confined to their garages early on, with Russell and Williams' Carlos Sainz notably seen eating as the clock ticked away.

After just 12 minutes, only four drivers had set a lap time, spearheaded by Haas' Ollie Bearman with a 1:30.252s on the soft tyres.

Alpine driver Jack Doohan, set to face the stewards for failing to follow the race director's instructions twice in nine minutes, then sliced half a second off Bearman's time.

When the McLaren drivers hit the track around 15 minutes in, it was no surprise they took to the head of affairs, led by Piastri with a 1:29.118s, with Norris 0.085s adrift.

With the track rubbering in, Verstappen, then Leclerc nabbed top spot, the latter only just as he came within centimetres of hitting the wall at the final corner.

Not for long, though, as Piastri soon reclaimed the fastest lap with a 1:28.605, leaving Norris 0.158s adrift after the Briton's next push lap. The laps being conducted, for the most part, were all on the initial set of tyres.

Twenty minutes in, Yuki Tsunoda was the last of the 20 drivers to take to the track after his team completed repairs on his RB21 following his crash into a wall late in FP2. His first quick lap only elevated him to 17th, 1.722s adrift at that stage.

Piastri then improved to a 1:28.470s, although was compromised in the final sector by a slow Tsunoda.

Improvements continued to be made across the board as Verstappen moved to within three-tenths of Piastri, whilst Tsunoda elevated himself to sixth quickest, 0.626s down.

After a lull for a change of tyres for the low-fuel, qualifying simulation runs, despite the conditions, Russell set the benchmark with 1:28.214s, yet seconds later, Piastri blitzed the circuit with a 1:27.513s.

Remarkably, on his fresh rubber, Norris again finished 0.158s down, as he had done earlier in the session.

A later flying lap, however, saw Norris edge ahead with a 1:24.489s, 0.024s ahead. Piastri's attempt at usurping his team-mate saw him make a slight error that heavily compromised his time. Norris' lap was just 0.041s behind Verstappen's pole from last year, and in ideal conditions.

Piastri did manage to bank another lap, finishing 0.024s down by the close, with Russell 0.627s off the pace in third.

Behind Albon, team-mate Sainz was seventh quickest ahead of Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Tsunoda and Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll was rock bottom, just under two seconds adrift.