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Vettel heads final free practice, leaving Hamilton to chase

Sebastian Vettel topped the final free practice timesheet at Monza, edging championship rival Lewis Hamilton by 0.081s in a session run under dry conditions.

Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas's presence right behind the leading duo means the battle at the front this afternoon in qualifying is likely to be finely poised.

Italian Grand Prix - Free Practice 3

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:20.509s		18
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:20.590s	+ 0.081s	14
3	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:20.682s	+ 0.173s	16
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:21.112s	+ 0.603s	18
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:21.388s	+ 0.879s	15
6	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:22.011s	+ 1.502s	15
7	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1:22.055s	+ 1.546s	16
8	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:22.310s	+ 1.801s	15
9	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1:22.313s	+ 1.804s	17
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:22.357s	+ 1.848s	16
11	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:22.486s	+ 1.977s	13
12	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1:22.631s	+ 2.122s	20
13	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:22.737s	+ 2.228s	15
14	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	1:22.778s	+ 2.269s	20
15	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:22.860s	+ 2.351s	19
16	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:22.882s	+ 2.373s	25
17	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:22.892s	+ 2.383s	23
18	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:22.987s	+ 2.478s	16
19	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:23.149s	+ 2.640s	10
20	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:23.164s	+ 2.655s	19

Formula 1 folk woke up to another damp day at the Temple of Speed this morning, but the air was dry by the time FP3 rolled around.

It was a sleepless night in Monza however for Sauber, whose mechanics put in the hours necessary to rebuild a new car for Marcus Ericsson after the Swede's dramatic crash in FP2 yesterday.

Fit and well, Ericsson was among the first to take to the track when the light went green, followed by a dozen other drivers as everyone conducted their installation laps.

Various radio messages pointed to a "greasy track" after yesterday's rubber was washed away by the overnight rain.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso was the first to register a lap time, laying down a 1m25.734s on soft tyres, followed by Renault's Nico Hulkenberg less than a tenth behind.

Ferrari's Camilleri still pondering the future of Kimi Raikkonen

A look at Ericsson's running shows the Saubers' DRS closing a bit earlier than expected, perhaps as the result of a cautious manual approach by its driver.

Upping the pace, Kimi Raikkonen put himself at the top of the timesheet with a 1m21.484s, with Lewis Hamilton slotting his Mercedes in second position, two tenths off the Ferrari driver.

After a few observatory laps, and a big lockup, Sebastian Vettel went third, sixth tenths off the pace of his team mate, while Valtteri Bottas was right behind in fourth until Red Bull's Max Verstappen demoted him.

At the front, Hamilton's ongoing efforts on the supersoft tyre enabled him to edge Raikkonen by just 0.007s!

Force India's pink panthers appeared to maintain their firm grip on the midfield, with Esteban Ocon leading Sergio Perez as the pair dueled for P7.

After a pitstop and a bit of tweaking, Vettel rejoined and promptly disposed of Hamilton, his 1m21.035s putting the German 0.3s up on the Brit.

Vettel was relentless however, and bettered his time with a 1m20.509s that put him 0.883s clear of Hamilton. Raikkonen was quick to respond however and got within 0.173s of his team mate's pace, but a last run from Hamilton ultimately allowed the Silver Arrows driver to split the red cars.

The latter part of Ricciardo's session saw the Aussie focus on race runs on the supersoft rubber, a logical move as his engine penalty puts him out of contention for a spot at the front of the grid in qualifying.

As a consequence, both Haas' Kevin Magnussen and Ocon moved up ahead of the Honey Badger in sixth and seventh.

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Michael Delaney