Monaco Grand Prix

Red Bull’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen drives during the third practice session at the Monaco street circuit in Monaco, on May 22, 2021, ahead of the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP) (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)

Monaco Grand Prix: Verstappen goes fastest in final practice

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went fastest in an incident-packed final practice session ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Monaco Grand Prix

Red Bull’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen drives during the third practice session at the Monaco street circuit in Monaco, on May 22, 2021, ahead of the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP) (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went fastest in an incident-packed final practice session ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Verstappen goes quickest in disrupted FP3 

FP3 was cut shirt by two red flags, the first for Nicholas Latifi’s crash at Swimming Pool with 15 minutes remaining, and the second for Mick Schumacher’s heavy crash three minutes before the end of the hour as he exited Casino Square – which saw the session end three minutes early.

Earlier in the day Ferrari took a shock one-two in FP2, with Carlos Sainz top at the half-way mark. 

Verstappen went fastest after the first red flag period ended, his benchmark 0.047s ahead of the Spaniard’s time. Charles Leclerc was 0.258s off top spot by the end of the session in third.

Fourth-place Valtteri Bottas was nearly half a second off the pace, his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton having missed out on meaningful soft-tyred running thanks to the cautions, with the reigning champion seven-tenths off the pace in seventh. Between them were Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, fifth, and Lando Norris of McLaren in P6.

Alpine had Fernando Alonso 15th and Esteban Ocon rounding out the standings.

Williams’ George Russell finished 17th ahead of his team mate Latifi, while AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda could only manage P19.

Looming clouds may be a worry for some in Monaco but the threat of Ferrari is much more menacing to Red Bull and Mercedes. 

2021 FIA Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 3

1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:11.294 19 168.502

2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:11.341 0.047 28 168.391

3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.552 0.258 27 167.894

4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:11.765 0.471 21 167.396

5 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:11.817 0.523 18 167.275

6 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:11.988 0.694 20 166.877

7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.020 0.726 20 166.803

8 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:12.298 1.004 25 166.162

9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:12.357 1.063 28 166.026

10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:12.537 1.243 24 165.614

11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:12.539 1.245 21 165.610

12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:12.700 1.406 22 165.243

13 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:12.959 1.665 25 164.656

14 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:13.139 1.845 21 164.251

15 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:13.329 2.035 19 163.826

16 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:13.390 2.096 20 163.689

17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:13.447 2.153 29 163.562

18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:13.475 2.181 22 163.500

19 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:13.522 2.228 30 163.395

20 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:13.614 2.320 18 163.191