Kimi Antonelli returned to the top of the timesheets with Mercedes during final practice in Monaco, beating the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to set the fastest lap.
Antonelli posted an impressive time of 1m 12.720s on soft tyres to create an advantage of more than three tenths over his Monegasque rival, who was unable to improve due to late struggles with his brakes.
The session offered the final opportunity for teams and drivers to hone set-ups and find their confidence around the narrow streets before embarking on the most important Qualifying hour of the season.
Shortly before the green light at 1230 local time, McLaren shared that they had completed “extensive work” on Lando Norris’ car after he ground to a halt 15 minutes into Friday’s FP2, adding that the team broke curfew to replace the wiring harness and ESME pack “within the permitted allocation”.
It was the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton who headed out on track early on, along with the Aston Martin drivers, Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who spent FP1 struggling with lock around the tight corners.
This time around, Bottas was the first to report a serious problem as smoke began to emerge from his brakes, with the Finn limping back to the pits – his team mate Sergio Perez previously endured a brake fire that forced a red flag period in FP2, and quickly joined Bottas in adding to Cadillac’s list of issues.
Things seemed to be going more smoothly for Ferrari as the number of cars on track increased and Leclerc set the first benchmark time of 1m 15.184s, but there would be plenty of track evolution to come.
That was soon demonstrated by Hamilton, who broke into the 1m 14s bracket to beat the Monegasque driver’s time by seven tenths before Norris – seeking to recover the time he lost in second practice – shot to the top of the timesheet by just 0.015s.
With everyone running on the red-walled soft tyres, times continued to tumble in the opening runs. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were the next to set a new standard as they inched closer to yesterday’s fastest laps and began to challenge the Scuderia, delivering more performance after Mercedes’ lacklustre Friday.
Approaching the halfway mark, the yellow flags were briefly waved as Franco Colapinto spun at the hairpin and clipped the barrier with the rear of his Alpine, but he was able to get going again and return to the pits.
Alex Albon also made an error that forced him to take a short trip down the escape road at Sainte Devote before the action quietened down, with the majority going back to the garages to look over their first Qualifying simulation runs.
A breathless improvement for Antonelli followed, the Italian finding time in Sectors 1 and 2 to set the fastest time of the weekend so far – a magnificent 1m 12.720s. But anyone hoping to match his lap was blocked by a red flag, brought out for Ollie Bearman’s stranded Haas. The Briton suffered a massive slide at Massenet and slammed into the wall, shedding debris across the circuit.
The session resumed with a few minutes remaining but no one was able to get close to Antonelli as Leclerc reported that his brakes felt “horrendous” on his way to P2 ahead of his team mate Hamilton. Russell ended in fourth in the second Mercedes, leading Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Gabriel Bortoleto was an eye-catching P7 for Audi as they continued their streak in the top 10 in Free Practice at this circuit, with his team mate Nico Hulkenberg placing P10 behind Isack Hadjar and Lando Norris.
Haas’ Esteban Ocon was 11th, edging out Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and the damaged second Haas of Bearman. Next up were Lawson and Arvid Lindblad for Racing Bulls, with Albon separating the pair in P16. Perez, Colapinto, Bottas and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll rounded out the order.
The drivers and teams now have a short period of time to reset before Qualifying gets underway at 1600 local time.
