While the Japanese driver reported that he was “sliding a lot”, Carlos Sainz cut the time down even further on his soft tyres as the majority of the field took to the circuit to make the most of the remaining 40 minutes.
A lack of grip similarly irked Max Verstappen, who found himself behind the lead Williams after the initial fast laps. Meanwhile, George Russell demonstrated the potential pace of the red-walled tyres as he was quickest by 0.473s at the halfway mark.
As the action quietened a little, Liam Lawson dipped a wheel over the white line and kicked up some gravel during a flying lap, sending him straight back to the pits – Ollie Bearman replicated the error a short time later while trying to improve from P18.
The final quarter of FP3 saw the drivers focused on Qualifying simulations, and the battle for the top spot was as tense as ever. In an attempt to beat Verstappen’s time, Norris had a snap of oversteer and was forced to bail out by driving onto the run-off area, with his race engineer explaining that there was some porpoising at Turn 9.