Mixed fortunes for Ferrari as Leclerc flies in final practice

Charles Leclerc continued to set the standard on home soil, leading the way once again in FP3 while Lewis Hamilton’s late crash threw a curveball for Ferrari just hours before the most important Qualifying showdown of the season.

Despite the ever-present risks of racing in Monaco, the mood across the grid remained upbeat, though the final hour of practice began quietly, with most drivers staying tucked away in their garages.

For the third time this weekend, Liam Lawson headed the short queue of cars that awaited the green light before kickstarting the hour armed with the softest compound available. 

As one of just two drivers to record a time in the opening ten minutes of the session, the Kiwi held the early benchmark of 1:15.171s as he reported low grip conditions, made worse by the lack of cars on track. 

The track gradually became more populated, and so did the timesheets, resulting in the Kiwi’s name falling down the order into P17.

He returned to the garage, remaining there for a significant chunk of the hour before returning on a fresh set of the C6.

He instantly went two-tenths quicker on the new compound, slotting into P15 before reaching a late high of a top ten time. 

Crossing the line with a 1:11.814s to his name, Lawson held onto the seventh fastest time through to the end of the final practice session, outpacing his teammate in FP3 by almost five-tenths in an encouraging warm-up to Qualifying.

Following the crowd as he sheltered away from the Monaco sun, Oscar Piastri’s FP3 session finally got underway after 15 minutes of waiting.

Running on the soft compound, the Australian set an initial time of 1:13.276s which placed him fifth overall, before he shaved five-tenths off on his following dash, moving into the top three.

The session got more difficult as Piastri struggled to find his groove, barely making improvements on his fastest time as he fell to P9 while resetting in the garage.

Sitting almost a second off the pace, the #81 returned to the track with a fresh set of the C6.

Setting a personal best Sector 1, the Australian’s pace fell off through the middle sector and left him with a time of 1:11.88, only rewarding him with P6 while he sat six-tenths behind the benchmark.

He took a major step towards redemption on his next tour of the 3.3km circuit, with a purple middle sector carrying him into a welcomed second fastest. 

Much to Piastri’s dismay, his competitors also found an extra edge in the dying moments of FP3, demoting the Australian out of the top three as the session was brought to an early closure due to a late Red Flag.

As for the rest of the field, the session took a while to find its footing.

Nico Hulkenberg led the early timesheets ahead of the RB duo, however, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Sauber driver after he narrowly avoided a nose-first run-in with the barrier at the final corner. 

As he reversed out of the tricky situation, he simultaneously dropped down the order as the usual contenders made their first appearance of the session.

Not for the first time this weekend, Charles Leclerc had found his way to the top of the timesheets around his home streets, leading over Lando Norris and the Red Bull duo with a benchmark lap of 1:12.712s.

He traded P1 with the #4 McLaren driver, however, the top time was soon Leclerc’s once again as the session reached the halfway mark.

The Stewards were busy working their way through a growing list of investigations as drivers were flagged for impeding one another, with one of the most significant incidents coming at one of the most dangerous points of the circuit when Isack Hadjar approached a slow-moving Tsunoda in the tunnel.

The Japanese driver admitted fault after forcing Hadjar to abort the lap, apologising before he and his teammate shot to the top of the order, putting their medium compound tyres to good use.

Slowly making a name for himself as one of the least aware drivers on the circuit, Franco Colapinto started to lose count of how many drivers he had impeded, getting in the way of Esteban Ocon and Oscar Piastri just to name a few, all in a bid to sit in last place. 

The Argentine driver was later noted for a Red Flag infringement, putting himself at risk of receiving the same harsh penalty Ollie Bearman was hit with yesterday.

Max Verstappen outpaced the hometown hero on the racier medium compound tyre, setting a blistering time to beat of 1:11.233s — over two-tenths clear of Leclerc.

As the rest of the field tried to challenge the Dutchman, the common theme that let the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and the struggling Mercedes drivers down was a lack of pace through the middle sector, with the soft compound no match for Verstappen’s P1 lap. 

To the delight of the grandstands, Leclerc found a way past the Red Bull, putting over two-tenths between himself and Verstappen as his teammate put his foot to the floor, however, luck wasn’t on Hamilton’s side when traffic forced him to abort his purple attempt. 

Launching with just minutes on the clock, woes worsened for Hamilton who soon found his Ferrari in the barriers at the Casino, with the seven-time world champion slamming into the barriers as he approached traffic at Turn 3, coming to a stop just metres down the road. 

The late crash brought a premature end to the session, leaving the field unable to complete their final practice starts on the grid as FP3 came to a close. 

The drivers will switch into competition mode with the most important Qualifying session of the year just around the corner.

The hour shootout will kick off at 00:00 AEST, with all eyes glued to the fight for pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Image: Scuderia Ferrari

Free Practice 3 Results:

2025 Monaco Grand Prix Schedule (AEST):

Friday, May 23:

FP1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday, May 24:

FP2: 01:00 – 02:00

FP3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday, May 25:

Quali: 00:00 – 01:00

Race: 23:00

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