The final practice session for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix began on a damp and patchy Zandvoort circuit, still drying after heavy overnight rain. Declared wet at the start, most teams stayed in the garage early as the track conditions slowly improved.
Ferrari made a late rear wing change on Lewis Hamilton’s car, while Aston Martin had Lance Stroll’s machine repaired and ready after his heavy crash in FP2. At Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar’s crew installed a fresh power unit following the rookie’s FP2 stoppage due to power issues.
Hadjar was first to venture out, reporting the surface was “very green” after a single exploratory lap. Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli followed on mediums before Nico Hülkenberg joined on hards, gradually building up the pace.
Early benchmark laps came from Antonelli (1:13.740), Hülkenberg (1:13.485), and Franco Colapinto (1:13.374), before Gabriel Bortoleto lowered the mark to 1:12.966 on hards.
With Stroll switching to softs, the times began to tumble. Antonelli soon beat his 1:11.854, and then Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard, delivered a 1:11.082 on soft tyres.
Still, several big names had yet to set times, among them Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell and Liam Lawson, who was the final driver to leave the garage.
When Norris emerged, he immediately lit up the timing screens with a 1:10.262 on his first flying lap, more than eight tenths clear of Alonso. Max Verstappen’s initial effort on mediums put him close, before Piastri slotted into second just 0.071s off his teammate.
As the track continued to evolve, Piastri briefly went quickest with a 1:10.120 before Norris responded emphatically. The Briton produced a blistering 1:08.972, seven tenths faster than last year’s pole time.
Russell, Sainz and Verstappen traded times behind the McLaren pair, but none could get within nine-tenths of Norris.
Lawson’s session began cautiously. The Kiwi was the last man on track, finally joining with 35 minutes remaining. His opening laps on mediums left him 17th, 1.8 seconds adrift, as he focused on warming tyres and adjusting to a track where he had the fewest laps of any driver so far in FP3.
Gradually, Lawson found rhythm. His second flying lap moved him up to seventh, just under a tenth behind teammate Hadjar, who had set his best on the faster soft compound. The comparison was encouraging for Racing Bulls, with Lawson extracting similar pace from the mediums.
After a stint in the garage, Lawson returned for a late qualifying simulation. Switching to softs, he climbed to eighth place with a 1:10.3, again just behind Hadjar. Only a tenth and a half split the pair, and both Racing Bulls ran ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in the senior RB entry.
However, traffic disrupted their final attempts. Both Lawson and Hadjar were forced to abandon their closing laps, leaving them finishing in 10th and 11th place in the session.
At the flag, McLaren secured a commanding one-two with Norris ahead of Piastri by 0.242s. Russell completed the top three, but was almost nine-tenths back. Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc filled out the top six, with Alex Albon impressing in seventh.
Stroll bounced back from his FP2 crash to take eighth, while the Racing Bulls pair slotted into ninth (Hadjar) and 11th (Lawson). Alonso split the two in tenth, while Hamilton could only manage 14th in the Ferrari.
Final FP3 Classification:
- Lando Norris – 1:08.972
- Oscar Piastri +0.242s
- George Russell +0.886s
- Carlos Sainz +0.941s
- Max Verstappen +0.953s
- Charles Leclerc +0.966s
- Alex Albon +1.127s
- Lance Stroll +1.131s
- Isack Hadjar +1.194s
- Fernando Alonso +1.260s
- Liam Lawson +1.328s
- Yuki Tsunoda +1.377s
- Gabriel Bortoleto +1.389s
- Lewis Hamilton +1.401s
- Oliver Bearman +1.623s
- Nico Hulkenberg +1.627s
- Kimi Antonelli +1.725s
- Esteban Ocon +1.829s
- Pierre Gasly +1.991s
- Franco Colapinto +2.082s
Header Image: Formula 1 via X
