Max Verstappen led Red Bull with a one-two in the final practice session of Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix, while a late crash by Lewis Hamilton ended proceedings early in FP3.
Sergio Perez set the first representative lap time of 1m15.641s and managed to avoid a stopped Esteban Ocon in the tunnel as the Alpine rider reported a loss of power.
The Frenchman returned his car to the pits after a quick reset at the steering wheel, but this forced him to spend the next 20 minutes in the garage.
Pierre Gasly spurred a glimmer of hope for Alpine by going faster than Perez, but the Mexican responded with a time of 1’14.990s and returned to the lead – maintaining the Ferrari duo’s first fast laps on soft tyres.
Lando Norris then surpassed Perez by 0.005s until Lance Stroll put on the table a time of 1’14.763s and briefly took the lead of the session. Perez quickly overtook the Canadian with a time of 1’14.377s as the track made progress in terms of available grip.
The 1:14 mark was then broken by Max Verstappen, who was half a second ahead of Perez but was bettered by his colleague, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, with his lap of 1:13.697 minutes.
As the first half hour of practice drew to a close, Perez returned to the lead and fought back a tenth over Alonso, but Verstappen was 0.004s clear of his team-mate to restore Red Bull’s 2-1 win.
The two swapped places once more, with Perez clocking a time of 1’13.289 while Carlos Sainz fell just 0.09s back to second place until a time of 1’12.898 for Verstappen raised the bar again.
While Perez hit back with a time of 1m12.849s, Verstappen clocked a time of 1m12.776s, continuing Red Bull’s duopoly in Saturday practice. This was later challenged by Stroll but the Canadian was just under a tenth off Perez and unable to split the RB19 at the front.
As the session went into the final 10 minutes, Kevin Magnussen initially had a slip at Sainte Devote and made his escape. Shortly after recovering, he stopped in Portier and created a virtual safety car. With that he stopped a potential Alonso attack on the fastest lap as he had set the best first sector.
Shortly after the session resumed at full speed, Hamilton drove his Mercedes into the guardrail at the Mirabeau exit. The Brit had just set off with the fastest first sector, but exceeded his braking zone and slid head-on into the Armco.
Due to the clearance of Hamilton’s broken-down Mercedes, the session did not resume to ensure Verstappen’s time could not be further challenged.
Perez and Stroll were the only other riders in the 1:12 race, while Sainz was the quickest in the 1:13 race and finished fourth in practice.
Norris got the fifth best time ahead of Gasly and Charles Leclerc, who reported problems with the pool area and that he had to lift to control the Ferrari’s trajectory.
Hamilton’s crash denied him a chance to improve on his eighth place finish as Ocon returned to the track after his earlier problems to set the ninth best time. Valtteri Bottas completed the top 10, just a fraction ahead of George Russell.