Sebastian Vettel kept Ferrari ahead going into qualifying by leading the final practice session at the Italian Grand Prix.
The session start would be delayed 10 minutes as barrier repairs and the removal of a sausage kerb took place at Parabolica following a big crash in Formula 3.
When it did, Mercedes opted to complete a high-fuel run initially while Ferrari jumped straight on the soft tyre for qualifying simulations.
Vettel set the initial pace but teammate Charles Leclerc would respond on his second lap to lead by just 0.16s at the top of the timesheet.
Drivers were also having to be careful at Parabolica with stewards deleting lap times for exceeding track limits. Both Haas cars and Alex Albon were among those to be pinged.
Mercedes joined the party with just over 20 minutes to go with Lewis Hamilton only fourth fastest and Valtteri Bottas initially ninth after an error on his first lap and traffic during the second.
Despite his engine penalty, Max Verstappen showed Red Bull’s in third, just 0.001s ahead of Lewis, as an ultra-low downforce approach brought them into contention.
Bottas eventually improved to fifth after a third attempt but only fractionally ahead of Alex Albon in sixth as 0.07s covered the four cars.
The main feather in Mercedes’ cap, however, they used the medium compound for their first low-fuel run meaning there was still plenty of time to come when they fitted the softs.
Ferrari began the final flurry of flying laps with Leclerc giving Vettel the slightest of slipstreams on the straights.
That was enough for the German to go fastest by a tenth before improving again by a few hundredths on his second lap.
As everybody searched for a tow, Verstappen moved to within 0.032s in second for Red Bull proving their approach is working.
Bottas jumped upto third using the soft compound, posting the same time as Leclerc in fourth, who described his final run as “useless”.
Daniel Ricciardo was the big surprise in fifth for Renault, who have adopted a similar very low downforce setup as Red Bull.
The Australian was ahead of Hamilton in sixth, with the Briton barely improving from his earlier best on the medium tyre.
Nico Hulkenberg backed up Renault’s pace in seventh ahead of Albon in the second Red Bull.
Antonio Giovinazzi and Daniil Kvyat would complete a top 10 covered by only 0.651s.
Carlos Sainz sits just outside in 11th for McLaren ahead of Sergio Perez as the usually competitive Racing Point team at Monza slip down.
Pierre Gasly also fell from ‘best of the rest’ on Friday to P13 for Toro Rosso with Lando Norris 14th.
Just over a second would cover the top 16 stretching to Kevin Magnussen in that position for Haas, with teammate Romain Grosjean, Lance Stroll and the two Williams behind him.
A very competitive final practice at Monza which offered a look into the tactical games that await in qualifying.
For now, Ferrari still looks strong but one good slipstream could change everything.
Full results from Practice 3 are available below:
