Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Kimi Antonelli has suffered a massive crash in final practice for the Australian Grand Prix, leaving Mercedes facing an uphill battle to have his car ready for qualifying.
On an afternoon when Antonelli’s teammate George Russell was easily the quickest, Antonelli caused a late stoppage when he crashed out of turn two.
Local-hope Oscar Piastri was fourth fastest behind Ferrari pair Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, proving he can contend for the front few rows for Sunday’s race.
But he does have some ground to make up on Russell, whose lap time of 1:19.053 was 0.616 seconds quicker than second-placed Hamilton and 1.034 faster than Piastri.
There are some concerns over Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris though, who was only eighth quickest after a difficult Friday for the world champion.
Max Verstappen came in sixth amid a late steering issue, outpaced by his Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar in fifth.
But the biggest issue of the session came for Antonelli, who is at risk of wasting Mercedes’ speed at Albert Park.
The Italian careered into the wall out of turn two, destroying the rear-end of his car and leaving Mercedes’ mechanics with two hours and 20 minutes to fix it for qualifying.
The other concerns of the session came for Williams and Aston Martin.
Carlos Sainz’s Williams broke down on the way into the pits after losing all power on his opening lap, while Lance Stroll failed to make it onto the track as part of Aston Martin’s ongoing issues.
Having already warned they may not get to the grid or be able to get through more than 25 laps even if they do start, Aston Martin were at least able to get veteran Fernando Alonso to complete 20 on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, Australia’s single-seater on-track action got off to a horror start with James Wharton tangling with Prema Racing teammate Louis Sharp and both ending up in the barriers.
Wharton pushed Sharp wide as the New Zealander attempted to overtake him, before Sharp drove back on track and straight into the side of Wharton on the way to the barriers.
Both drivers emerged unscathed, but Sharp could be heard on the team radio labelling Wharton a “f***ing idiot”, as a red flag prompted an early end to the sprint race.
