Max Verstappen set the pace in the final practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix ahead of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll.
The Red Bull driver overcame Friday’s set-up problems to set a best time of 1:12.776 seconds, 0.073 seconds faster than Perez.
Stroll’s best lap came late in the session as the Aston Martin driver improved to just 0.166 seconds off Verstappen’s pace.
Perez set an early pace on the soft tire session before a lot of track activity led to multiple upgrades as the track evolved.
Verstappen initially beat Perez’s benchmark before Alonso made a faster effort in his first timed soft run. The Spaniard’s best effort later dropped him to 10th at the end of the session, showing how much the levels of the gap changed throughout the session.
Any attempt to correct him was hampered after Lewis Hamilton crashed at Mirabeau, crashing into the barrier after losing the rear on corner entry. The shunt raised a red flag and ended the session prematurely.
Leclerc has trouble setting up the car
While Carlos Sainz managed to forget his FP2 accident and get back on pace, his teammate Charles Leclerc complained that he had to lift the throttle in the pool section due to the car’s positioning, causing him to lose half a second to Verstappen in time laps.
Leclerc eventually finished the session in seventh fastest, unable to improve towards the end of the session.
Russell claimed he hit the “wall hard” over the team’s radio in the final sector and returned to the pits after his runs. The Mercedes driver was 11th fastest and a second off pace, and two tenths off Hamilton.
Esteban Ocon had problems early on with his Alpine stalled on the track in a tunnel before he performed a “system reset” and was able to get back on track and limp back to the pits. Alpine solved the problems and quickly managed to return to the top ten with his times.
There was also a virtual safety car at the end of the session for Kevin Magnussen, who lost power on the exit of the Lowes Hairpin. The Haas driver, already on his knees, entered the escape route at Sainte Devote and had to turn back to the track.
