April 17, 2026

Russell Fastest in Final Practice Session While Antonelli Crashes

The final practice of the weekend was not without drama, as the session started off with Carlos Sainz coming to a stop near the pit lane and causing a Virtual Safety Car to come out. The session was eventually red-flagged. The other Williams driver of Alex Albon seemed to be having some issues as well, as yellow flags briefly came out while he was driving quite slowly, before he got his car moving again. Most cars were out on track in order to get some useful data in, but Lance Stroll remained in the garage due to a suspected ICE issue. Late into the session, red flags were thrown once again, this time for Kimi Antonelli, who was suffered a crash at Turn 2 and doing some heavy damage to his Mercedes.

By the end of the practice, it was Russell who went quickest, followed by Hamilton and Leclerc in second and third respectively. Oscar Piastri followed in fourth, ahead of the two Red Bulls of Hadjar and Verstappen. Antonelli finished seventh, with Norris, Bortoleto, and Bearman rounding out the top ten.

Below are the full results of the final practice session.

PositionDriverTeamTime
1George RussellMercedes1:19.053
2Lewis HamiltonFerrari+0.616
3Charles LeclercFerrari+0.774
4Oscar PiastriMcLaren+1.034
5Isack HadjarRed Bull Racing+1.084
6Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing+1.144
7Kimi AntonelliMercedes+1.271
8Lando NorrisMcLaren+1.390
9Gabriel BortoletoAudi+1.406
10Oliver BearmanHaas+1.725
11Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls+1.785
12Liam LawsonRacing Bulls+1.837
13Esteban OconHaas+1.930
14Nico HulkenbergAudi+2.014
15Pierre GaslyAlpine+2.018
16Franco ColapintoAlpine+2.360
17Alexander AlbonWilliams+2.611
18Fernando AlonsoAston Martin+3.667
19Valtteri BottasCadillac+4.461
20Sergio PerezCadillac+5.344
21Carlos SainzWilliams
22Lance StrollAston Martin

Seattle Strayer

Seattle works for the team F1 Dreaming and has been with the team for 1 season. Her favorite thing about Formula 1 is the adrenaline and thrill of racing!

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