Hamilton tops FP3 in Monza, frustrated Verstappen and Red Bull nowhere

Max Verstappen was not happy with his car over the team radio. The Dutchman finished the session in P6 behind the two McLaren drivers as well. Franco Colapinto surprised positively, as Williams' one-lap pace seemed to be on point and the Argentinian finished in P9. Sergio Perez finished the session in P18, as he made a mistake in Turn 4 and 5, so therefore, he did not complete a flying lap.

As it happened

Out of the frontrunners, only the Red Bull Racing cars set lap times within the first 10 minutes, as Verstappen and Sergio Perez began the session on mediums. The two Mercedes followed Red Bull, while the McLarens and the Ferraris completed their first laps on soft tyres. 20 minutes into the session, only a couple of tenths separated the first seven drivers, with George Russell leading the session ahead of Sainz and Hamilton.

Turns 1 and 2 also proved to be a corner where drivers were still looking for the limits. For example, Hamilton rode the kerb entering Turn 1. In Lesmo 2, also many drivers briefly caught the edge of the gravel trap, including Russell, Piastri and Franco Colapinto.

With 20 minutes to go, the two Ferraris jumped to the lead on soft tyres, with Sainz being faster than Leclerc, while Alex Albon got up to P3 on soft tyres as well, but then the Monegasque driver managed to further improve to P1. Five minutes later, there was a close incident between Leclerc and Piastri, as the Ferrari driver tried to overtake the Australian exiting Lesmo 2, on the straight Piastri pulled his car torwards Leclerc. Leclerc had to go on the grass, but fortunately for the two, nothing happened.

The two Mercedes cars first fitted the soft tyres with 10 minutes to go, and jumped up to P1 and P2 respectively, with Hamilton setting a better lap time than Russell. Verstappen on his first go on softs got up to P6 following his flying lap, and was not happy with his cornering speed.