Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc continued to impress as he topped the timesheets in Practice Three at the Monaco Grand Prix, following his strong showing in Friday’s second practice session. Leclerc, who is aiming to win his home race for the first time, put in a best lap of 1:11.369 and will be aiming to replicate that showing in Qualifying later today.
Reigning world champion Verstappen, meanwhile, closed to within 0.197 seconds of him in the closing stages of the session, setting the stage for an exciting Qualifying session. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton’s encouraging weekend continued as he put in the third-fastest time of the session, dipping under the 1min 12sec mark after a slow start to Practice Three.
With Mercedes team-mate George Russell in sixth, sandwiching the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, the competition is heating up as the drivers strive to find the best setups for the challenging Monaco street circuit. The session was briefly interrupted due to a red flag caused by Valtteri Bottas damaging his right front suspension after clipping the wall and then blocking the track at Rascasse, with the accident ending the Sauber driver’s participation in the session as well.
After a delay of around four minutes for the red flag while Bottas’ stricken car was removed from the circuit, there was a mad dash from the pits for the rest of the field to get out on the circuit, with Verstappen and Kevin Magnussen among the drivers frustrated by heavy traffic at parts of the track. Leclerc was able to navigate those issues though and consistently put in times in the 1min 12sec range, becoming the first driver to dip under that mark in Practice Three with around 20 minutes remaining. Once again no-one else was able to match his pace and he was eventually able to better that time in what proved a frantic end to the session as nearly all of the drivers returned to the track in an effort to put in the best laps before Qualifying later in the afternoon.
Verstappen had written off Red Bull’s hopes of catching Ferrari after a difficult Friday for the team, believing the vibration problems the RB20 had suffered around Monaco in the opening two sessions were not ones which could be solved by set-up changes alone. He did at least manage to set a time that was within touching distance of Leclerc, clocking a best lap of 1:11.566 despite the track getting crowded again in the final 10 minutes, but knows the team will need to find more improvement from somewhere if they are to overhaul Ferrari in Qualifying. The Dutchman’s difficult weekend was compounded by him being noted by the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly and he awaits to see if that will result in any further action.
Hamilton, meanwhile, was again among the frontrunners after setting the fastest time in Practice One and finishing second to Leclerc in Practice Two on Friday. After going off at Turn One and having limited running in the first part of Practice Three, the seven-time world champion produced a best time of 1:11.710 to place third, showcasing the intense competition among the top drivers. There was more encouragement for McLaren too, with Piastri sitting fourth after a 1:11.901 and Norris sitting eighth just 0.087 seconds behind his team-mate amid ongoing developments and incidents both on and off the track.
Monaco GP Practice Three Timesheet
| Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1) Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:11.369 |
| 2) Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.197 |
| 3) Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +0.341 |
| 4) Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.532 |
| 5) Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +0.554 |
| 6) George Russell | Mercedes | +0.599 |
| 7) Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +0.610 |
| 8) Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.619 |
| 9) Yuki Tsunoda | RB | +0.622 |
| 10) Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +0.718 |
| 11) Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +0.775 |
| 12) Alex Albon | Williams | +0.811 |
| 13) Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | +0.823 |
| 14) Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +0.847 |
| 15) Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +0.962 |
| 16) Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +1.103 |
| 17) Logan Sargeant | Williams | +1.334 |
| 18) Daniel Ricciardo | RB | +1.460 |
| 19) Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | +1.460 |
| 20) Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | No time |
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