Lance Stroll's difficult start to live in Formula One continued on Saturday as the Williams rookie crashed in practice for the Australian Grand Prix, jeopardising his chances for qualifying.

The Canadian clipped the wall out of Turn 9 late in FP3 at Albert Park, causing damage to his rear-right tyre and gearbox, which needed to be replaced shortly before qualifying.

Stroll, 18, was unharmed, but has struggled to get to grips with F1 in his debut season, and had a number of crashes in pre-season testing.

Sebastian Vettel showed impressive pace in the final session, putting in a track record one minute 23.380 seconds at the top of the timesheets. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were second and third, but were denied a flying run by Stroll's crash.