Monaco GP FP3: Leclerc stays on top as Verstappen closes

Charles Leclerc led the way in final practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen ending up less than two tenths of a second adrift.

The hometown hero, who has twice taken pole position in Monaco but never won his home race due to separate issues, was fastest in Friday’s second session and continued to assert himself ahead of qualifying.

The session was briefly interrupted when Valtteri Bottas hit the wall at Rascasse, but it quickly resumed. Halfway through, Leclerc was atop the times with a 1m12.521s, ahead of Oscar Piastri at the time, while Verstappen was 0.242s off the Ferrari driver. Mercedes, which had looked solid on Friday, encountered traffic and other issues that prevented competitive laps.

Verstappen then went quicker on fresh softs, dipping to a 1m11.369s benchmark. In the closing stages, several drivers made their final qualifying simulations. Verstappen displaced Piastri but could only manage a 1m11.566s, still 0.197s shy of his best lap. This marked the Dutchman’s highest ranking of the weekend so far.

Lewis Hamilton, who had earlier locked up at Turn 1 and abandoned a lap, jumped to third, albeit 0.341s behind Leclerc. Sergio Perez improved to fifth, ahead of George Russell and Carlos Sainz. Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda filled eighth and ninth, with Fernando Alonso once again in the top 10 across all sessions.

Pierre Gasly missed out on the top 10 by a narrow margin, just ahead of Alexander Albon. The Haas duo were 13th and 14th, while Lance Stroll failed to make the top 10 for the first time this weekend. Esteban Ocon was less than three tenths behind his teammate but only 16th. Logan Sargeant took 17th, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

Sauber remained uncompetitive, with Guanyu Zhou 19th and over a second behind Ricciardo.

Several drivers had off-track excursions, including Piastri running wide at Turn 1. Russell and Norris’ side-by-side moment at Tabac attracted the attention of the stewards, with both under investigation. Verstappen was also summoned for an alleged “unnecessary slow pace.”