Norris tops Canadian final practice, Piastri tags ‘Wall of Champions’

After a scrappy Friday, which the British driver labelled as the team’s worst of the season, Norris led the final practice session with a time of 1:11.799s.

He finished 0.078s ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and 0.151s ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who was the first driver into the 1:11s this weekend and continued his impressive pace at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The top three times were quicker than Russell’s pole lap from last year and were all set on soft tyres, with most teams preferring the softer compound as grip levels at the circuit remained low.

Lewis Hamilton showed promising speed for Ferrari, topping the session midway through before ending up fourth, ahead of Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.

Oscar Piastri had a scare, with the championship leader clipping the infamous ‘Wall of Champions’ on his first run.

He entered the final chicane with a bit too much curb, and his right-rear wheel tagged the wall — puncturing his McLaren’s tyre and spraying debris across the track.

The incident triggered a brief red flag, but the McLaren crew repaired the damage quickly, allowing Piastri to return to the track and set the eighth-fastest time of the session.

He wasn’t the only one to flirt with the famous wall, with Nico Hulkenberg and Oliver Bearman also having moments there during the session.

Hulkenberg lost the rear of his Sauber exiting the final chicane and spun, with the back end of his C45 clipping the wall and damaging the rear wing. Bearman, meanwhile, lightly tapped the wall after running wide out of the final corner.

Kimi Antonelli was seventh for Mercedes, while Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon once again finished in the top ten for Williams in ninth and tenth.

The teams will now put all the final pieces together ahead of qualifying which takes place at 4pm local time (6am AEST).

Results: Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, Free Practice 3