Sebastain Vettel kept Ferrari in front in the final practice session of the 2018 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza from title rival Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
The predicted rain never came in FP3 as the drivers got comfortable with the track drying up lap after lap in the session. The damp patches were also gone by the end of the session helping the drivers in a better run before qualifying.
The advantage though remained with Vettel who clocked a 1m20.509s to top the session by just the 0.081s from title rival Hamilton (1m20.590s) while Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m20.682s) ended up in third.
The Top 3 were some way in the distance from fourth placed Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas (1m21.112s) who finished 0.603s down on Vettel. The Finn looked a little out of touch which could be down to a different spec unit (unconfirmed).
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen (1m21.388s) was fifth with teammate Daniel Ricciardo (1m22.310s) only eighth as the Australian spent most of the time to prepare for the race with the looming grid penalty.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m22.011s) did well after a slower Friday to be sixth from Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon (1m22.055s). The pace for Haas was confirmed with Romain Grosjean (1m22.357s) in 10th behind Sauber’s Charles Leclerc (1m22.313s).
The Monegasque made a late improvement to demote Grosjean to 10th. Force India’s Sergio Perez (1m22.486s) had a moment in Turn 1 as he finished 11th from Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly (1m22.631s).
Renault had a difficult session with Carlos Sainz (1m22.737s) only 13th while Nico Hulkenberg (1m23.149s) was 19th as the German like Ricciardo concentrated on the race pace more. The Williams drivers though did well to be inside Top 15.
Sergey Sirotkin (1m22.778s) was 14th with Lance Stroll (1m22.860s) in 15th while Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson (1m22.882s) returned in 16th after his huge FP2 crash. The Swede had a swore beck started slowly but regained his confidence as the session went by.
The McLaren drivers struggled with Fernando Alonso (1m22.892s) in 17th from Stoffel Vandoorne (1m22.987s) as Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley (1m23.164s) rounded out the 20 finishers.
