McLaren’s Lando Norris tops the time sheets in final practice for the Australian F1 Grand Prix

Lando Norris has topped the field in final practice for the Australian Grand Prix in a surprising result considering McLaren’s lack of pace so far this season – but a radio message at the end of the session could be cause for concern for the team.

The Briton was told to ‘please bail’ after setting the benchmark time of 1:19.117, with engineers telling him, ‘Urgent blue B1. Urgent blue B1.’

His teammate, Australian Daniel Ricciardo, came in sixth, almost six tenths of a second behind the 22-year-old.

Norris was the class of the field in final practice for the race at Melbourne’s Albert Park, but a concerning radio message at the end of the session could spell problems for McLaren

The 22-year-old Briton was just over a tenth of a second faster than Charles Leclerc, whose Ferrari has been one of the benchmark cars so far in 2022

The time represented a huge leap forward for McLaren, who struggled badly for pace in the first two races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was second with a time of 1:19.249, marginally ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, with Fernando Alonso’s Alpine sitting fourth, ahead of the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz.

Lewis Hamilton could only manage eighth for Mercedes, with his teammate George Russell finishing 11th with a time of 1:20.096, almost a second off Norris’ pace. 

Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel went off track about 20 minutes into the session, with the Aston Martin driver colliding heavily with the wall and bringing out the red flag.

The Aston Martin driver lost control at turn 10 and careened into the barriers at almost 260kmh. 

Sebastian Vettel smashed his Aston Martin into the wall at close to 260kmh about 20 minutes into the session. He was unscathed, but the car was a mess – and he missed the second practice session altogether due to a power unit problem

Mercedes’ George Russell (pictured) told the team his car was ‘all over the place’ as he wrestled it around the track before finishing eleventh

He was taken back to the pits on a scooter – but unlike his impromptu lap of the track on Friday, for which he was fined by the stewards, he was doubled back by an official completely legally. 

Hamilton appeared to have problems braking and narrowly avoided hitting the barriers as he skidded through the gravel, with his Mercedes still proving very difficult to drive. 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was just behind Norris in another strong showing for the Italian team, whose car has looked very well planted on the track. His teammate Carlos Sainz was fifth

Sergio Perez put his Red Bull into third spot, with reigning world champ Max Verstappen down in seventh after spinning near the entrance to pit lane

Russell told the team his car was ‘all over the place’ as he wrestled it around the revamped circuit, which had one of its four DRS zones removed for safety reasons after feedback from drivers on Friday night local time. 

Stewards noted a pit exit incident involving reigning world champ Max Verstappen as the field returned to the track after Vettel’s crash.

The reigning world champ also had a spin as he approached the entrance to pit lane once the session was re-started, seemingly after losing grip at the rear of the car, and could only manage seventh with a time of 1:19.809.

Vettel’s teammate Lance Stroll brought out the yellow flag right at the end of the session when he went into the barriers.