The China Mail - Russell tops final practice in Melbourne as Antonelli crashes heavily

Russell, tipped as the pre-season favourite, flew round the Albert Park circuit in the final minutes on soft tyres in an eye-catching one minute 19.053 seconds during a session red-flagged twice.

That was enough to pip Hamilton by 0.616secs as teams slowly get to grips with radical new engine and chassis regulations.

With a greater reliance on electrical energy in the hybrid power units, better battery management by drivers is paramount.

The session was overshadowed by Antonelli slamming his car into the barriers at Turn 2 late on, leaving his Mercedes a wreck.

He climbed out and said "I'm okay".

Hamilton's teammate Charles Leclerc was third, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri fourth and Red Bull's Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen fifth and sixth.

Antonelli came seventh with world champion Lando Norris, who had transmission control issues on Friday, only managing eighth.

On a partly cloudy day, Alpine's Franco Colapinto was first out on hard tyres but it was Hamilton, on softs, who set the early benchmark with a 1:20.572.

The session was red flagged early when Williams' Carlos Sainz lost all power on his way into the pit entry after his first lap and came to a halt.

Marshals had to crane his car off and the action was halted for eight minutes with Sainz taking no further part.

This came after the session started 20 minutes late due to debris on the track from a heavy collision in the Formula 3 sprint race.

When they resumed, Antonelli immediately blasted past Hamilton to top the charts with Verstappen moving into third.

But Hamilton surged straight back to the top and at the halfway mark he led from Leclerc, Piastri and Antonelli, all on soft tyres.

Leclerc and Piastri clocked flying laps to seize control with 20 minutes left before Antonelli's spectacular crash again halted proceedings.

Just three minutes were left when the track was cleared and Russell powered through the field with the fastest lap before a late charge from Hamilton moved him into second.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll failed to leave the garage but Fernando Alonso completed 20 laps to finish 18th as the team deals with serious vibration issues in their Honda power unit.

Piastri and Leclerc topped the Friday practice sessions.

P.Ho--ThChM