Charles Leclerc upset the form book by topping final practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.
The local favourite produced the best lap in the flurry of qualifying simulations posting a 1m11.265s to pip the two Mercedes and offer Ferrari hope heading into qualifying.
It might be short-lived, however, as the stewards will investigate Leclerc for a possible Virtual Safety Car infringement after teammate Sebastian Vettel crashed at Sainte Devote just 15 minutes in.
The battle between the two Mercedes’ is being led by Valtteri Bottas, as Lewis Hamilton struggled initially with some vibrations and didn’t appear quite as comfortable.
Red Bull can’t be ruled out either with Max Verstappen with 0.3s of Leclerc in fourth and Pierre Gasly 0.5s slower in fifth.
In the midfield, it remains a battle between Alfa Romeo and Toro Rosso for ‘best of the rest’ as Antonio Giovinazzi snuck into sixth in the final minutes.
Daniil Kvyat followed in seventh with Kevin Magnussen also putting Haas in the picture just as the checkered flag dropped in eighth.
Kimi Raikkonen was ninth and Alex Albon completed the top 10 for the junior Red Bull outfit.
Renault are ready to pounce from P11 and P12 as is Romain Grosjean in 13th.
The battle to make it out of Q1 though looks to be between McLaren and Racing Point as they sat P15-18 with Williams continuing to bring up the field.
Back at the front, however, and it will be interesting to see if Leclerc’s pace is the start of a genuine Ferrari challenge or whether it was just the perfect lap at that moment.
Vettel’s car should be fixed in time for qualifying too, but it could be his accident which ends any charge from the Scuderia before it has even started.
Full results from final practice can be seen below:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 26 1:11.265
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 27 1:11.318 0.053
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 27 1:11.478 0.213
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 24 1:11.539 0.274
5 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 27 1:11.738 0.473
6 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 23 1:12.170 0.905
7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 27 1:12.194 0.929
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas 25 1:12.270 1.005
9 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 27 1:12.308 1.043
10 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 32 1:12.338 1.073
11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 26 1:12.489 1.224
12 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 26 1:12.519 1.254
13 Romain Grosjean Haas 27 1:12.566 1.301
14 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 7 1:12.583 1.318
15 Carlos Sainz McLaren 29 1:12.862 1.597
16 Lando Norris McLaren 26 1:12.914 1.649
17 Sergio Perez Racing Point 23 1:13.232 1.967
18 Lance Stroll Racing Point 21 1:13.622 2.357
19 Robert Kubica Williams 27 1:14.086 2.821
20 George Russell Williams 27 1:14.305 3.040
