FP3: Norris heads Russell and Piastri during final practice in Singapore

Lando Norris set the pace during the third and final practice session ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, the McLaren man going fastest by nearly half a second from closest challenger George Russell while Ferrari’s pace seemed to have slipped.

After Friday’s practice sessions saw Charles Leclerc and Norris rule the top of the timesheets – with very fine margins between the two – questions remained over whether anybody could take the challenge to the pair as FP3 got under way at 1730 local time, offering a final chance to prepare for qualifying later in the evening.

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It was a quiet start when the green light switched on, with the Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll initially having the circuit to themselves – or almost, as a lizard had made an appearance out on track. The session was subsequently red flagged as marshals tried to get the reptile to safety.

There was a flurry of action when FP3 resumed as a number of drivers headed out, most running the medium tyres for their first runs while Kick Sauber had opted for the soft. Oscar Piastri reported feeling happier with the car as he set the early pace, while Max Verstappen also stated that his RB20 was “much better” just as the Red Bull moved into P1.

Pierre Gasly had a moment in the Alpine, resulting in the Frenchman only narrowly avoiding contact with the wall. “Woah, that was close,” said Gasly over the radio. Alex Albon, meanwhile, wasn’t quite so lucky, with replays showing the Williams clipping the barriers before returning to the garage as the team assessed if any damage had been sustained.

Leclerc put himself at the top of the timesheets as the session reached its halfway point, pumping in a lap of 1m 31.525s to go one tenth clear of Verstappen. Elsewhere there were further dramas, with Russell running straight on at Turn 14.

WATCH: Ride onboard with Norris for the fastest lap of Friday in Singapore

The order started to change as many switched focus to their soft-shod runs, with Russell going fastest, while Piastri experienced a big slide during his lap after the McLaren took too much kerb. There were no such troubles for Norris, who then slotted himself into P1 on an impressive 1m 29.646s, almost half a second quicker than Russell.

All eyes were then on what Ferrari could do and that was soon answered – Carlos Sainz was 1.161s away from Norris in sixth, while Leclerc aborted his first flying run before going fifth quickest, 0.913s off the Briton.

While other laps went on the board, Norris’ time remained unchallenged at the top, keeping him ahead of Russell and Piastri in second and third respectively. Verstappen ended the session in fourth, while Leclerc and Sainz took fifth and sixth.

Lewis Hamilton was seventh for Mercedes, an improvement from his difficult day on Friday, while the Williams pair of Albon and Franco Colapinto were eighth and ninth – with Colapinto only 0.040s away from his team mate – and Alonso rounded out the top 10.

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Yuki Tsunoda put his RB into P11, leading from the Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, Gasly and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. Esteban Ocon was P16 in the Alpine, with Daniel Ricciardo behind in P17 on what could be a crucial weekend for the Australian, and Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu completed the order.

With the final practice session of the weekend complete, the teams and drivers will now turn their attentions to qualifying which is set to take place later today at 2100 local time.