Verstappen on P3 in third free practice in Austria

Published on 28 June 2025 by Florence Cobben

Max Verstappen set the third fastest time in the third free practice of the Austrian Grand Prix. After a calm beginning, where Max drove exclusively on the hard tyre, the Oracle Red Bull Racing-driver made a final push on the soft tyres in the last ten minutes of the session, resulting in a 1:04.534 time. It put the four-time world champion two-tenths of a second away from the fastest man on track, Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri, in second, saw this session end with a McLaren 1-2.

Under sunny skies and with a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, the third free practice of the weekend got underway. On the 4.326 meter long Red Bull Ring, Max is the first to head out on hard tyres and set a time. After a quarter of an hour, Lando Norris on the soft tyre dethrones Max from his place at the top of the timesheets. After an initial stint of nine laps, Verstappen makes a return to the pits.

At 35 minutes into the sessions, Max has dropped down to fifth place as more and more drivers are improving their times. The Dutchman makes his return to the track on the same set of hard tyres, but heads back in after eleven uneventful laps.

Meanwhile, at the front, Norris keeps on improving. Eventually, with a quarter of an hour to go, the Brit clocks a time of 1:04.324. Shortly after, Isack Hadjar spins coming out of the last turn of the track, but a beautiful pirouette saves him from any damaging consequences.

After his final stay in the pits, Max heads out with just ten minutes on the clock on a set of soft tyres. Setting a time of 1:04.534, he nestles in behind the McLarens in third place. Sometime later teammate Yuki Tsunoda has a moment coming through the first turn, but the driver can continue on without damage to his car. Verstappen spins in the last turn, but, like Hadjar, mitigates any damage by spinning a perfect 360 degrees.

At the front of the grid the hierarchy starts to crystallize, and no driver manages to set a time that disrupts the Lando-Oscar-Max order. Norris closes the session in fastest. Oscar Piastri is close behind, with a 92-hundredths gap to his teamate. Meanwhile Max is two-tenths slower than this session’s forerunner and ends up in third. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton complete the top five.

The Austrian Grand Prix will resume at 16:00 for qualifying.

Contest GP Austria: win a by Max Verstappen signed Red Bull Racing 2025 cap!

Results third free practice Austria: