Max Verstappen fastest at the final practice of the Monaco Grand Prix

Max Verstappen ruined Scuderia Ferrari’s party by topping the time sheets at the final practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix.

On the opening day of practice, Verstappen hadn’t shown the pace of recent weekends but in the final practice before qualifying put his Red Bull Racing car on top. Teammate Sergio Pérez finished fifth, half a second down from the top time.

Ferrari have been the surprise pacesetters of the weekend, topping one practice session and having at least one of their drivers in the top three. Carlos Sainz Jr. is showed his worth at Ferrari, finishing second fastest, just 0.047 off of Verstappen. Charles Leclerc will be happy with how his weekend has been going, considering the race is his home one. He finished third with Ferrari looking in a good position to take an all-important pole.

It would take a wonder lap for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team to get their car on pole considering they have been on the backfoot all weekend. Valtteri Bottas pulled out a lap that put him fourth overall in the dying stages. Lewis Hamilton could do no better than seventh.

Lando Norris was yet again the strongest star of McLaren F1 team. Despite having a veteran of a teammate in Daniel Ricciardo, he’s shone brightly and has been putting in some rapid times. He finished sixth today with Ricciardo in the bottom half of the table in an unimpressive thirteenth.

Kimi Räikkönen was the surprise star in the top ten, along with Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN teammate Antonio Giovinazzi they were the first drivers out on track, which helped them put in some steady times. Räikkönen was eighth overall with Giovinazzi not too far behind in eleventh.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda drivers had a contrasting session. Pierre Gasly was able to break into the top ten with a ninth fastest time, but Yuki Tsunoda had a disappointing time. He finished nineteenth overall, just over a second slower than his teammate. The rookie’s good start to the season seems to be slipping away from him.

Sebastian Vettel was the fastest of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team duo. He finished just in the top ten with the tenth fastest lap. Teammate Lance Stroll was a few places down in twelfth.

Alpine F1 Team were looking good at the Spanish Grand Prix but haven’t been able to replicate that speed so far in Monte Carlo. Fernando Alonso finished fifteenth with Esteban Ocon rock bottom in twentieth, nearly two and a half seconds off Verstappen.

Uralkali Haas F1 Team will be happy they weren’t the slowest on track but will be disappointed with how their session ended. Mick Schumacher had put in a time that saw him finish fourteenth fastest but in the dying stages, he crashed his car into the barrier at Casino Square after losing his back end. This red flagged and subsequently brought the session to an end. His crash severely damaged his car and is looking in doubt to run in qualifying. Nikita Mazepin finished sixteenth overall.

Nicholas Latifi’s session was cut short. Latifi clipped the barrier on the exit of the piscine, sending him over the curb and straight-lined him into the barrier. The session was red-flagged with 17 minutes left but resumed 5 minutes later. It will also be a tall order for Williams Racing to get his car ready for qualifying. He finished eighteenth. George Russell also didn’t have the best of sessions. He could only get seventeenth fastest.

Free Practice 3 Results