Free Practice 3 for the Italian Grand Prix wrapped up under perfect conditions at Monza, with Lando Norris setting the pace ahead of Charles Leclerc in a session that hinted at a close qualifying battle to come.
The final hour of practice began with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, along with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, venturing out first.
Gasly’s early benchmark of 1:23.965 on hard tyres was quickly eclipsed by Tsunoda, who dropped the pace to 1:21.876. Colapinto slotted in eight tenths adrift.
As more cars filtered out onto the circuit, including McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Norris, Haas drivers Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon, the Williams duo of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, plus Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, the times began to tumble.
Hamilton was immediately on the pace, going second fastest behind Tsunoda, while Leclerc’s opening effort placed him just four tenths off.
Fifteen minutes into the session, Max Verstappen joined the fray and immediately stamped his authority with a 1:20.040 on the soft compound tyre.
Both Ferraris proved a match; however, Hamilton and Leclerc lapped within striking distance despite using the slower medium compound. Leclerc’s best came within 0.014s of Verstappen, underlining Ferrari’s strong baseline.
McLaren initially focused on longer runs with harder tyres, leaving Piastri and Norris down the order.
Meanwhile, Liam Lawson’s first representative lap for Racing Bulls was a second shy of Verstappen, though his pace quickly improved. On his second attempt, the Kiwi jumped to ninth, only 0.024s slower than teammate Gabriel Bortoleto.
At the halfway mark, Verstappen lowered the bar to 1:19.688, creating a four-tenth cushion to the Ferraris. Tsunoda, running on hards, remained a solid fifth for Red Bull, while Isack Hadjar worked through qualifying simulations, creeping into the top 10.
Albon impressed for Williams, splitting the two Ferraris with a run on softs to go third fastest. Then came McLaren’s turn. Switching to the softs, Norris surged to the top with a 1:19.331, Piastri slotting in just behind.
Hadjar followed closely, within three hundredths of the Australian. Bortoleto also impressed, climbing to fourth before George Russell in the Mercedes displaced him.
Lawson’s first soft-tyre run ended in frustration. He ran wide at Turn 5, damaging the underside of his Racing Bulls car and made his way back to the pits. He never rejoined, leaving him stuck in 16th as the session concluded.
The closing minutes saw Hamilton finally switch to softs, putting in a lap good enough for sixth, just two tenths shy of Norris. Leclerc, pushing hard, ran through the gravel at Lesmo 2, compromising his first attempt. On his final lap, however, he rebounded to second place, just 0.021s off Norris’s benchmark.
Hamilton’s encouraging pace came with a caveat. The Ferrari driver carries a five-place grid penalty into this weekend, a sanction handed down after Zandvoort when he failed to slow under double-waved yellows. Even if he qualifies near the front, he will not start higher than sixth.
At the chequered flag, Norris remained on top with his 1:19.331, followed closely by Leclerc, Piastri, Verstappen, Russell, Bortoleto, Hamilton, Hadjar, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and Albon, rounding out the top 10.
For Williams, Carlos Sainz’s FP3 was quieter, the Spaniard finishing further down the order in 13th place, compared to his FP1 and FP2 results where he finished third fastest.
With the top 10 separated by just four-tenths of a second and the entire field covered by less than a second, qualifying at Monza looks set to be fiercely contested.
FP3 confirmed that McLaren and Ferrari are firmly in the mix, while Red Bull, Mercedes and Racing Bulls cannot be counted out.
For Lawson, however, all focus now turns to repairing the Racing Bulls car in time for a clean qualifying run.
Qualifying gets underway at 2:00am Sunday morning (NZST).
Header Image: Formula 1 via X
