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F1 Monaco GP: Leclerc leads Verstappen and Hamilton in FP3

The session was red-flagged after the opening 10 minutes when Valtteri Bottas clipped the Swimming Pool exit wall, an impact that broke the front-right suspension on his Sauber and caused him to stop at Rascasse. 

Once the Finn's car was moved behind the barriers as he could not recover to the pitlane, the session resumed in earnest - with all cars taking to the circuit on high fuel to log multiple laps in preparation for qualifying.

Hamilton's pre-hiatus fastest lap was quickly beaten by team-mate George Russell, who in turn was drawn into an early battle over top spot with Haas' Nico Hulkenberg.

The two were outpaced by Oscar Piastri, who had drawn the times down to a 1m12.684s, before FP2 headliner Charles Leclerc went over a tenth quicker to move to the zenith of the order.

The Monegasque followed a similar trajectory to his efforts in FP2, where he continuously found time over the session as the fuel burned off and landed on a 1m11.977s at the end of his first set of soft tyres.

After a switch to a new set of the red-walled Pirellis, Leclerc turned up the wick and unearthed a 1m11.369s to put over 0.6s on team-mate Carlos Sainz - who had not long got within 0.002s of Leclerc's previous benchmark.

Given Leclerc's advantage, second was once again the main field of competition and Max Verstappen dialled himself in enough to claim a 1m11.566s, having often gained time in the opening sector but lost it in the next two.

The Dutch driver attempted to improve his time towards the end of the session, but got blocked into Rascasse by team-mate Sergio Perez.

Hamilton was third fastest despite a less-than-clean session, having got baulked by the stranded Bottas earlier in the session and then losing track time to a heavy Sainte Devote lock-up - where he heavily flat-spotted his tyres.

Piastri claimed the fourth fastest time, which could not be beaten by Perez's last-minute lap that was good enough for fifth; the Mexican stated over the radio that the car was "nowhere".

Russell and Sainz claimed the sixth and seventh fastest times, as Lando Norris was just 0.009s behind his former team-mate - having survived a near-miss with Russell on the exit of the tunnel.

Yuki Tsunoda again impressed with the ninth fastest time, as Fernando Alonso completed the top 10 having spent the first half of the session circulating on the medium tyre.

Monaco Monaco Grand Prix - Free Practice 3

   
1
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4
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h
1 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari 26

1'11.369

  168.325
2 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 27

+0.197

1'11.566

0.197 167.861
3 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 Mercedes Mercedes 25

+0.341

1'11.710

0.144 167.524
4 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 25

+0.532

1'11.901

0.191 167.079
5 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull 24

+0.554

1'11.923

0.022 167.028
6 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 33

+0.599

1'11.968

0.045 166.924
7 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari 26

+0.610

1'11.979

0.011 166.898
8 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes 24

+0.619

1'11.988

0.009 166.877
9 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 RB Red Bull 27

+0.622

1'11.991

0.003 166.870
10 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Mercedes 25

+0.718

1'12.087

0.096 166.648
11 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 26

+0.775

1'12.144

0.057 166.516
12 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 24

+0.811

1'12.180

0.036 166.433
13 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari 24

+0.823

1'12.192

0.012 166.406
14 Denmark K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20 Haas Ferrari 31

+0.847

1'12.216

0.024 166.350
15 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 25

+0.962

1'12.331

0.115 166.086
16 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault 25

+1.103

1'12.472

0.141 165.763
17 United States L. Sargeant Williams 2 Williams Mercedes 21

+1.334

1'12.703

0.231 165.236
18 Australia D. Ricciardo RB 3 RB Red Bull 28

+1.460

1'12.829

0.126 164.950
19 China Z. Guanyu Sauber 24 Sauber Ferrari 28

+2.461

1'13.830

1.001 162.714
20 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 Sauber Ferrari 2

 

   
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