Sebastian Vettel suffered a high-speed crash exiting Turn 10 before teammate Lance Stroll crashed at Turn 11 in the closing stages, bringing the session to an early end.

After missing the opening two races of the season due to COVID-19, Vettel’s difficult return to action in Australia continued as he crashed out 20 minutes into the session. Vettel lost the rear of his Aston Martin AMR22 car exiting the fast left-right sequence, causing him to run through the gravel and into the wall.

Vettel quickly apologised to the team over the radio before getting out of the car unharmed and then returning to the paddock on the back of a scooter being riden by a marshal.

The crash came after Vettel lost running on Friday after an engine issue sidelined him in FP1 and prevented him from taking any part in FP2. He also received a €5,000 fine for driving a scooter unauthorised on track at the end of FP1 to get back to the paddock.

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Things went from bad to worse for Aston Martin when Stroll lost control of his car at Turn 11, causing him to run through the gravel and into the wall with five minutes remaining.

Stroll was unharmed, but the front-left corner of his car was damaged in the impact, leaving Aston Martin with a significant amount of work to complete ahead of qualifying.

The red flag meant that Norris took top spot for McLaren in FP3 after most of the front-running drivers failed to get in a low-fuel run at the very end of the session.

Norris posted a best lap time of 1m19.117s on the soft compound tyre to finish one tenth of a second clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The British driver was told to ease off under the late red flag due to a warning appearing on his dashboard.

Leclerc spent much of the session competing for top spot along with Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, who enjoyed a surprisingly competitive session.

Leclerc, Perez and Alonso were covered by just 0.026 seconds in second to fourth, while Sainz sat a couple of tenths behind in fifth place.

Daniel Ricciardo completed a decent session for McLaren as his finished sixth, half a second off his teammate’s time, while Max Verstappen was seventh for Red Bull.

Verstappen set his best time on the medium compound tyre but had a tricky session that saw him spin early at Turn 13 before almost losing the rear of his car running through Turn 1 while on a late push lap. “I don’t get why I’m spinning,” Verstappen said over the radio. “It’s really hard to feel the balance at the moment.”

Lewis Hamilton also struggled for Mercedes, finishing eighth after narrowly avoiding the wall when running wide at Turn 11 early in the session. Former teammate Valtteri Bottas took ninth for Alfa Romeo ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who completed the top 10 for AlphaTauri.

George Russell and Pierre Gasly took 11th and 12th respectively ahead of Esteban Ocon, who was over eight tenths of a second off Alonso’s time in the sister Alpine. Mick Schumacher finished 14th for Haas ahead of rookie Guanyu Zhou and Williams’s Alex Albon.

Kevin Magnussen ended FP3 in 17th place after struggling through Friday following some overnight nausea, while Nicholas Latifi sat 18th ahead of the two Aston Martins.

Second Singapore F1 race emerges as possible Russia replacement

Red Bull F1 veteran Rocquelin moves to junior programme role

Why Singapore remains the toughest Formula 1 driver challenge

The "second chance" that led a Dutch F1 champion to Mercedes

Connecting two of Ferrari's favourite F1 sons: Villeneuve and Leclerc

2022 F1 Singapore Grand Prix – How to watch, start time & more

The 2022 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix takes place this Sunday on October 2. Here's how you can watch the 17th round of the 2022 F1 season.

F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Leclerc takes Singapore GP pole

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, the 17th round of the 2022 F1 World Championship, during a thrilling qualifying session.

Verstappen: I should be allowed to criticise Red Bull for F1 mistakes

Max Verstappen says he should be allowed to criticise his Red Bull Formula 1 team if it helps them achieve perfection.

Leclerc explains mistakes which he feared cost Singapore GP F1 pole

Charles Leclerc feared he had thrown away Singapore Grand Prix pole position with mistakes on his final lap in Formula 1 qualifying in a nervous end to the session.

Why is Oscar Piastri F1's most sought-after rookie?

The Australian rising star is fast, consistent, confident, adaptable and has shown excellent racecraft, but there’s already a taint to his reputation. That hasn’t stopped him becoming the hottest property in this year’s F1 driver market and why McLaren moved fast to snap up the 21-year-old

The unintended benefit that F1's new engine rules era will deliver

Formula 1's incoming engine rules shake-up has multiple targets. But it may also solve what has been a bone of contention since the hybrids arrived in 2014. The new plan will allow the series to pump up the volume

How de Vries made himself impossible to ignore for a belated F1 chance

Nyck de Vries appeared to have missed his opportunity to break into Formula 1 as he was passed over for more exciting talents who have now become frontrunners and title fighters. But after catching the eye outside of the F1 sphere, before his stunning impromptu grand prix debut in Italy, will it lead to a delayed full-time race seat?

Can Hamilton produce another Singapore magic moment?

The Singapore Grand Prix has, explains Ben Edwards, played an important role in Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 career. As the series returns to the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the first time in three years, he faces the latest challenge with an underperforming Mercedes car.

Why Sainz is key to Ferrari achieving its chairman's F1 goals

Although Ferrari's chances of title glory in 2022 have evaporated, chairman John Elkann expects the team to have chalked up both championships by 2026. Both require drivers to play the team game and, having now become more comfortable with the F1-75, Carlos Sainz may be Ferrari's key to title glory

How its faltering first turbo car advanced a Williams-Honda glory era

Stuart Codling charts the development of the Williams FW09, the ugly duckling that heralded the start of the title-winning Williams-Honda partnership

The Moss-Ferrari farce that current F1 drivers are thankfully spared

Recent moves within the driver market have reminded Maurce Hamilton of a time when contracts weren’t worth the paper they weren’t written on…

The seven factors powering Verstappen's 2022 F1 domination

After a tooth and nail and, at times, toxic Formula 1 world championship scrap last year, Max Verstappen's march to a second consecutive title has been the exact opposite. But has he really changed in 2022? Here's a dive into what factors have played a crucial role, both inside the Verstappen camp and elsewhere, in the Dutch driver's domination.