Piastri demolishes the pack in final practice

Piastri was more than six-tenths clear of his nearest rival, teammate Lando Norris, with Charles Leclerc the only other driver within a second of the Australian.

On Friday, McLaren had proved a step clear of the rest of the field, with George Russell the nearest challenger to Piastri and Norris.

It was again the papaya duo two who headed final practice, comfortably so for much of it, though the conditions added a significant caveat.

Extreme heat saw limited initial running with the air temperature above 34 degrees as the session started, and a strong headwind down the front straight.

Initially, few ventured out given how unrepresentative the weather made things.

However, it was still important to bank laps as there were changes made overnight.

On the exit of Turn 4, the white line governing the edge of the track had been widened.

More significantly, however, was a change in minimum tyre pressures, with the rear dropped by one PSI.

For the most part, the session was able circulating and validating changes, noting the impact conditions would have as temperatures dropped heading into Qualifying.

It was only in the final dozen minutes that things came alive.

That saw Piastri stamp his authority on the session with a 1:31.646s to go fastest by a staggering 1.3s over Pierre Gasly who was second best at the time.

Kimi Antonelli soon went quicker than the Alpine driver, but was still 1.27s down on the McLaren.

Norris had abandoned his initial performance run, though a lap five minutes later still saw him more than six-tenths down on his teammate.

Leclerc was the only other driver within a second of Piastri as he, and McLaren, looked devastatingly quick.

Jack Doohan was 12th fastest, 1.7s off the outright pace and four-tenths shy of Gasly in the other Alpine.

It was a similar story for Liam Lawson, who was one place further back in 13th with the same deficit to his Racing Bulls teammate.

The session was largely uneventful and ran, more or less, without interruption.

While the red flag was never shown, there was a brief Virtual Safety Car when Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber went into anti stall before turning itself off.

That left him stuck in the run-off area at Turn 8, where marshals wheeled clear his car clear and green flag running resumed.

Leclerc also had a minor issue when his left-side mirror broke free, though it didn’t prompt an interruption on track as it flew over the catch fencing approaching the final corner.

It was otherwise uneventful as McLaren and Piastri stamped their authority on the pack.

With strong pace throughout the three practice sessions, it is that combination that heads into Qualifying as favourites for pole.

Qualifying begins at 02:00 AEST on Sunday morning.

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