Ferrari continued its good form from Friday as Carlos Sainz set the pace in final practice at the team’s home race in Monza, narrowly leading rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton ahead of qualifying later today.
After an action-packed first day at Monza, drivers returned for another attempt at the Temple of Speed. As they continued to acclimate to the Alternative Tire Allocation (ATA) system over the weekend, many riders strapped on a set of used tires at the start of the session, with all three compounds on display.
TRAINING REPORT: Will Ferrari’s Friday pace at Monza translate into a podium finish at the Italian GP?
And after the first 20 minutes it was Verstappen who set the pace again. The championship leader’s time of 1:21.687 minutes on the soft tires was good enough to overtake Sergio Perez by more than half a second, with Hamilton just behind in third place.
The drivers then began changing tires as the track seemed to get harder and harder, with Alex Albon jumping into second place on a set of medium tyres. As for Oscar Piastri, he did a quick lap on the same terrain before crashing through the gravel at Turn 4.
Many drivers then put on a set of new soft tires, with Sainz’s time of 1m20.912s good enough to overtake Verstappen on his way to the fastest time, with the Dutch driver just 0.086s off the pace.
Hamilton, who was briefly fastest, finished third despite being more than half a second behind Sainz’s time. 2019 Italian GP winner Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest after setting his time on old soft tires when he dipped his tire into the gravel on his first lap.
READ MORE: Sainz was ‘astonished’ by Ferrari’s pace-setting start to the home Grand Prix weekend at Monza
Fernando Alonso was fifth for Aston Martin, ahead of George Russell, while Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finished an impressive seventh and eighth for Haas, ahead of Albon, although the Williams driver set his fastest time on the media.
Sergio Perez was unable to appear for a qualifying simulation run on the soft tires after a leak was detected in his drive unit. He was 10th fastest ahead of Lance Stroll – who was recovering from his lack of running on Friday – and finished 11th for Aston Martin.
Liam Lawson was the leading AlphaTauri in 12th ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda in 13th, while Piastri was 14th for McLaren – with replays showing he was hampered on a flying lap by Sainz towards the end of the session seemed to be when the two made contact.
READ MORE: Perez explains FP2 crash at Monza as Verstappen admits there is still ‘work to do’ at Red Bull
Logan Sargeant was 15th for Williams while Valtteri Bottas placed his Alfa Romeo behind the American racer, while McLaren’s Lando Norris was 17th ahead of Esteban Ocon in 18th. Ocon’s Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly brought up the rear of the field, with Zhou Guanyu sharing the pair.
After completing the third practice session, the drivers will now meet with their teams to finalize their set-ups before qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix at 4:00 p.m. local time today.