Max Verstappen did excellent business in the third free practice session of the
Italian Grand Prix. The World Championship leader was almost three and a half tenths faster than
Charles Leclerc, setting the fastest time.
The Monegasque set the fastest lap on Friday, but had to settle for second place in the third practice session. He stayed ahead of
Sergio Perez. The Mexican came more than two tenths of a second short of Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz finished fourth in the session and has some work to do to improve his performance in qualifying. The Spanish driver managed to keep Fernando Alonso behind him, who did another good job at Alpine with a fifth place.
Mercedes disappoints, De Vries gets used to it
For Mercedes, the practice was harder.
George Russell took seventh place, while
Lewis Hamilton was only tenth. Nyck de Vries, who replaced
Alexander Albon, finished fourteenth, not much worse than
Nicholas Latifi.