Carlos Sainz will not get any representative running during FP3 at the Australian Grand Prix.
During the third practice session at Albert Park, the Williams of Carlos Sainz came to a sudden stop at the pit entry, prompting the first red flag of the F1 season. The Spanish driver experienced a loss of drive in his FW48 and became stuck, hindering the return to the garages early into FP3 in Melbourne. Initially, a virtual safety car was activated with the pit entry closed, but it was later upgraded, resulting in approximately eight minutes of lost time for the teams. Prior to this incident, the session already faced a 20-minute delay due to barrier repairs at Turn 5 following a collision between two PREMA drivers in the F3 sprint race that led to its abandonment. Concerns about the Williams car being overweight and the team missing the pre-testing shakedown in Barcelona have surfaced. This setback puts the 31-year-old driver at a further disadvantage as the season opener approaches. Following the session’s resumption, Kimi Antonelli topped the timing board with his Mercedes, edging out Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.
