Kimi Antonelli finished fastest in Free Practice 3 ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of teammate George Russell, helping Mercedes continue their strong start to 2026.
The Italian clocked a time of 1 minute 29.362 seconds, finishing almost three tenths ahead of Russell, and more than eight tenths behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third.
Saturday’s one-hour practice session was the final chance for drivers and teams to gain vital knowledge and better tune setups ahead of qualifying today at the Suzuka Circuit.
Despite this, by the time the clock approached 15 minutes the majority of the field came onto the track and some form of racing was conducted, with Lewis Hamilton initially setting the benchmark using Pirelli’s soft tyres, before Ferrari teammate Leclerc went fractionally faster with a 1m 31.018s.
World champion Lando Norris was the only driver to complete the minimum race, with the McLaren driver’s technical problems continuing to plague him from Friday as his MCL40 remained in the garage with just 25 minutes left on the clock due to an ERS (Energy Recovery System) problem.
Antonelli became the first driver to dip below the 1 m 31 s barrier near the 20-minute mark, posting a time of 1 m 30.418 s to go fastest by six-tenths from Leclerc, before the Ferrari driver soon reduced the margin to just one-tenth.
Russell dropped to third with his early runs, as well as tenth behind Antonelli, as traffic through the 130R became an issue, leaving both Hulkenberg and Bottas feeling unhappy.
Approaching the halfway point, Leclerc went fastest at 1m 30.229s as Antonelli was unable to respond to his next attempt before Russell slipped between the pair, with both Mercedes drivers losing time in the final zone compared to Leclerc.
Antonelli then became the first driver to dip below the 1m 30s barrier this weekend, and set a time of 1m 29.929s entering the final 30 minutes before Russell missed the benchmark by 0.011 seconds.
Norris’ early race relegated him to 11th as he was finally able to get out to run some, just before Russell set a time of 1 m 29.616 s, which was quickly beaten by Antonelli’s 1 min 29.362 s, who would finish as the fastest time in FP3.
Leclerc was best of the rest at the checkered flag, although he was more than eight-tenths behind, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri fourth, followed by Hamilton and Norris, who were 1.2 seconds off Antonelli’s effort.
The top 10 was completed by the second Audi of Nico Hulkenberg (Audi), Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Gabriel Bortoletto and Pierre Gasly (Alpine).
Red Bull’s Isak Hadjar led the two Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, while Esteban Ocon led Haas team-mate Ollie Bearman – the young Briton suffering a major scare before spinning out of the Spoon Curve and rejoining without doing anything.
Alex Albon was P16 and just ahead of Williams teammate Carlos Sainz of Franco Colapinto (Alpine) and the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas.
The second was the P20 of Sergio Pérez after a short excursion through the gravel at the final chicane, as the order was completed by the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, who were adrift by more than four seconds.
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