Kimi Antonelli set the fastest time in the third practice session (EL3) at the Sepang circuit ahead of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar. George Russell finished six tenths of a second behind his teammate. Antonelli placed his Mercedes W17 at the top of the timesheet with nearly three tenths of a lead over Verstappen. Red Bull confirmed its strong performance at Sepang since Hadjar completed the top three, ahead of Russell. The Brit finished six tenths behind his Mercedes teammate, a significant gap just hours before qualifying. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton followed with their Ferraris, while McLaren appears slightly behind for now. The start of the session was particularly calm. Despite nine years of absence from Formula 1 at Sepang, most drivers waited before taking to the track. Franco Colapinto and Sergio Perez were the only ones to accumulate a few laps in the first minutes, while Liam Lawson was content with a single installation lap before returning to the pits. Leclerc was the first top driver to really start his session. The Monegasque opted for the hard tires, an unusual choice which means he will not keep two sets of new hard tires for the 56 laps of the race. He is only the second driver to have used the hard tires this weekend after Verstappen. The Ferrari driver immediately took the lead with a lap of 1:37.772, nearly half a second ahead of the previous reference of Pierre Gasly. Norris and Oscar Piastri then took the lead with the medium tires, unlike the majority of their opponents who favored the softs. Mercedes waited a long time before sending its drivers to the track. Antonelli and Russell had still not completed a lap after twenty minutes, just like Verstappen, Hadjar, Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. The session was interrupted after 25 minutes following an unusual incident on the Haas of Oliver Bearman. A thin piece of carbon detached from the front right brake caliper and ended up inside the 10th corner. The race director raised the red flag to allow a marshal to recover the debris. The interruption lasted only about five minutes, but it marked the real start of the activity for several top teams. Mercedes particularly benefited from the restart to launch its two W17s. Antonelli and Russell immediately took the first two positions with the soft tires, the Italian initially leading his teammate by about a tenth. Red Bull also quickly established itself at the forefront, confirming the good sensations shown since Friday. In the last minutes, as teams increasingly oriented their program towards qualifying simulations, Antonelli accelerated again to finally retain the first place. Verstappen finished second, nearly three tenths behind, while Hadjar confirmed his speed with the third time. Russell had to be content with fourth place, about six tenths behind Antonelli, ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton. McLaren appears more difficult to position. Norris finished seventh, but his best time was curiously set with the medium tires. Piastri followed his teammate by only two tenths in eighth position. The two MCL40s could therefore still have a significant margin at the time of qualifying. Lance Stroll was the last driver to record a representative time. After five reconnaissance laps, the Canadian finally finished 14th, about half a second behind his teammate Alonso, 11th. Antonelli approaches qualifying with the EL3 reference, while Russell will have to find several tenths quickly to hope to challenge his teammate for pole. Red Bull remains nevertheless in ambush with its two drivers in the top 3, while the true level of McLaren remains still difficult to determine.