F1 Monaco GP: Kimi Antonelli pips Ferrari pair to top…

Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli topped a very hectic final practice for the Monaco Grand Prix by holding a three tenths advantage over both Ferrari drivers.

The Mercedes star set a 1m12.720s and he was the only driver to go under 1m13s, as 0.327s behind was second-placed Charles Leclerc, who was 0.004s quicker than team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

This came on what is arguably the most important Saturday of the season and the early FP3 push laps saw teams use the soft tyre so the opening stages were pretty on the limit.

It saw favourites Ferrari, who finished 1-2 in both Friday practice outings, initially set the pace with a 1m15.184s for Leclerc, who was 0.062s quicker than Hamilton.

The seven-time world champion soon became the first driver to break through the 1m15s barrier, taking a 1m14.390s before Ferrari’s rivals started showing pace amid track evolution.

Lando Norris was first to topple the Italian outfit by going 0.015s quicker for McLaren, who received a €30,000 fine - €10,000 suspended - on Friday night after the MCL40 stopped on track.

Engineers broke curfew repairing Lando Norris' McLaren (Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images)

The team then breached curfew to make electrical pairs on the reigning world champion’s MCL40, so track time during FP3 was key.

But Norris’ advantage didn’t last for long as championship leader Mercedes and second-placed Ferrari started exchanging fastest laps towards the end of the opening 30 minutes.

That started with title hopeful George Russell becoming the first driver to go sub-1m14s with a 1m13.902s in his Mercedes, soon beaten by Leclerc who did a 1m13.748s.

Championship leader Antonelli then showed his hand by going 0.374s quicker, 1m13.374s, before Russell made it a brief Mercedes 1-2 as he went 0.109s slower than his team-mate.

Leclerc responded instantly with a 1m13.355s, but then so did Antonelli setting a 1m13.137s before almost going quicker had he not encountered a slow Cadillac after two purple sectors.

So that caused his frustrated self to pull into the pitlane amid a brief yellow flag after Alpine’s Franco Colapinto suffered a half-spin at the hairpin in the 29th minute.

Franco Colapinto caused a brief yellow flag (Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images)

But joy was soon back on Antonelli’s face as Hamilton’s Friday benchmark - 1m13.026s - was finally beaten with 19 minutes remaining as the Italian teenager set a 1m12.720s.

Ferrari had no answer to that though as Leclerc only managed a 1m13.047s, 0.004s quicker than Hamilton, while Russell struggled for a clean push lap due to traffic.

The Briton’s quest was affected further with 14 minutes remaining when he had a front row seat to Oliver Bearman causing a red flag by crashing at Massenet.

That made it four red flags across this weekend’s three practice sessions and green conditions returned with four minutes to go in FP3. Teams subsequently rushed out of the pitlane.

But that inevitably caused an extremely busy track, all drivers bar Bearman being out, leading to Norris and Hamilton complaining about each other after running closely in the final chicane.

So, there were very minimal improvements late on meaning the top three remained as it was with Russell in fourth ahead of fifth-placed Max Verstappen on a 1m13.662s.

Isack Hadjar finished the session eighth (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images)

That was 0.036s quicker than McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who pipped Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto by 0.122s with Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar in eighth on a 1m13.877s.

It’s been a frustrating weekend for McLaren so far - the team bemused by its deficit on Friday - as Norris took ninth with a 1m14.006s while Bortoleto’s stablemate Nico Hulkenberg was 10th.