FP3: Norris leads Leclerc and Russell as Piastri hits the wall during final practice in Canada

McLaren driver Lando Norris topped the timesheets during Saturday’s final practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix, leading the way from Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell, while team mate Oscar Piastri hit the wall.

On another pleasant afternoon in Montreal, with the sun shining and temperatures rising, drivers had one more hour of practice to fine-tune their cars and get ready for Qualifying around the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.

PRACTICE DEBRIEF: Can Mercedes stay on top or will McLaren bounce back in Canada?

One driver with plenty of work to do was Leclerc, who missed some 45 minutes of FP1 after crashing out and the entire FP2 session when Ferrari mechanics were forced to change the chassis on his SF-25.

Home favourite Lance Stroll also had lost mileage to make up for following the Aston Martin man’s shunt early in second practice, which disrupted an otherwise positive return to action in the wake of surgery on his wrist.

Amid questions over whether the soft or medium tyres will be the best option for Qualifying (the difference between Pirelli’s C5 and C6 compounds again appearing to be very small), the early minutes of final practice brought a range of run plans.

A quarter of the way into the hour-long session, it was Leclerc who led the way via a time of 1m 12.843s on the yellow-marked medium rubber, with Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Stroll sitting a few tenths back on the red-marked soft.

AS IT HAPPENED: All the action from final practice for the Canadian Grand Prix

Drama then ensued as championship leader Piastri and Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg had moments at the final chicane in quick succession – Piastri tagging the wall and picking up a puncture and Hulkenberg clipping it while completing a full spin.

After a brief spell under red flags that allowed marshals to clear away the debris that had been littered over the track, drivers were quick to head back out and resume their practice programmes, with Piastri and Hulkenberg forced to watch on from the sidelines.

As lap times tumbled, Russell took over at the top with a 1m 11.950s on softs, followed by Lewis Hamilton and Norris on mediums, while the soft-shod Max Verstappen slotted into fourth despite reporting that “I’m still lacking bite in the brake material”.

A final flurry of improvements on the soft tyres ended with Norris sitting at the top of the timing screen – his tidy 1m 11.799s effort just under a tenth up on the recovering Leclerc and another tenth clear of second practice pace-setter Russell.

Hamilton made it two Ferraris in the top four, from Verstappen, Alonso and the other Silver Arrows machine of Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri only able to place eighth – over Williams duo Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon – after making it back out on track.

READ MORE: Vasseur responds to ‘disrespectful’ speculation over his Ferrari future

Racing Bulls pair Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson sandwiched Pierre Gasly’s Alpine in positions 11 to 13, followed by Stroll, Haas pair Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon, and Franco Colapinto, who put together a cleaner final practice session.

Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were 18th and 19th respectively for Sauber, with Yuki Tsunoda bringing up the rear after spending most of the session in the Red Bull garage while mechanics worked away on his car – the Japanese racer later being slapped with a 10-place grid penalty for the Grand Prix after a red flag infringement in the session.

Drivers and teams will now regroup in the paddock to dig through the data and make any final set-up adjustments before returning to the track in Qualifying – the grid decider due to get under way at 1600 local time.