Formula 1 News: Verstappen tops close Singapore GP Practice 3

Defending World Driving Max Verstappen (pictured) put the point-leading McLaren drivers on notice that he has come to the Marina Bay Street Circuit with the intent to win by turning the fastest lap of 1m30.148s in final practice for the 2025 Singapore GP.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Last year here in Singapore and earlier in 2025 Verstappen was complaining that the RB21 dog was bouncing like a Kangaroo, but recent upgrades have improved the RB21 dog. Verstappen is still carrying the RB21 dog on his back because Yuki Tsunoda in the same car was 1.292s behind Verstappen, but now Verstappen is more confident with the car.

Oscar Piastri, fastest on Friday, was 2nd quick in his #91 McLaren, just 0.017s behind Verstappen.

After crashing on Friday, George Russell was third fastest in his #63 Mercedes, 0.049s behind Verstappen. His Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli was 4th, 0.089s  behind Verstappen.

Lando Norris, who won here last year, was 5th in the #4 McLaren, 0.089s behind Verstappen with the exact same time as Antonelli.

Carlos Sainz was sixth-fastest for Williams, ahead of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Lewis Hamilton, who faces a post-session investigation for an alleged red flag infringement.

The seven-time world champion will see the stewards after FP3 for the incident which occurred during the red flag caused by Liam Lawson, who crashed for the second time in as many days.

Nico Hulkenberg and Charles Leclerc completed the rest of the top-10 for Sauber and Ferrari.

Lawson’s crash early in the session means he goes into Qualifying with very, very little soft tire running. He ran the C5 rubber on a very green track in FP1, and that is pretty much it.

This is just too close to call today. Verstappen looks good, so does Piastri, Norris will improve, and both Mercedes cars are in the mix. The Ferrari drivers look up for this too, and you can take their times there with a pinch of salt as they set their lap times quite early.

It should be noted how close the times are with the current generation of cars. The FIA and FOM decided to ruin that by entirely changing the cars and engines for 2026, which will make the gaps much larger as some teams figure out the new regulations better than others.

2025 Singapore GP Practice 3 Results