Max Verstappen led the way in an eventful third practice session in Melbourne, with the championship leader placing ahead of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, as the drivers got their final preparation laps in ahead of qualifying later today.

As the lights turned green, it was Lance Stroll who led the drivers out onto the track for a start of a busy hour of running, as they looked to make up for lost time from Friday’s rain-affected FP2 session.

Carlos Sainz (P7) set the early pace on the soft tyre, with a time of 1m 18.127s, to lead his compatriot Fernando Alonso by 0.202s, as many drivers went for long high fuel runs to start the day.