LIVE: Monaco Grand Prix FP3

Follow F1i's live, as-it-happens coverage of the final free practice session for the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix!

Monaco is unique in that the first practice day is a Thursday, which means that since then we've had a fairly laid back Friday before getting back to work this morning with Free Practice 3, the last practice available to teams before this afternoon's crucial qualifying session.

LIVE: Monaco Grand Prix - FP3

The big question is whether Mercedes has been able to put that rest day to good use, and whether the team has found enough improvements to overturn that six tenths of a second gap which Daniel Ricciardo held over Lewis Hamilton. Nico Rosberg didn't sound at all confident that they could find that much extra speed from their car - could we be about to see the end of the Mercedes domination of qualifying?

And let's not forget Ricciardo's new team mate Max Verstappen. After becoming the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner last time out in Spain, the Dutch teenager was fourth fastest on Thursday and less than tenth of a second behind Nico Rosberg. It might be asking a lot of Verstappen to force his way onto the front row of the grid this weekend, but - well, you saw the Spanish Grand Prix, so you'll know that 'impossible' just isn't in his vocabulary.

Toro Rosso also seem to to have come alive in recent weeks, and Danill Kvyat - who lost his Red Bull seat to Verstappen after his home race in Russia - was a strong fifth fastest on Thursday while his team mate Carlos Sainz showed it was no fluke by taking sixth spot right behind him.

The Red Bull family's resurgence has rather put Ferrari in the shade. Kimi Raikkonen was only seventh fastest after FP2 despite making a few mistakes especially around Ste Devote. His team mate Sebastian Vettel had an even more torrid time of it with a spin at Mirabeau and contact with the barrier out of Ste Devote putting a dent in his car and in his confidence, leaving him ninth fastest between Force India's Sergio Perez and McLaren's Jenson Button.

It wasn't only Vettel who had problems - Felipe Massa came to a more emphatic stop at Ste Devote and Renault's Jolyon Palmer clouted the exit of Tabac in FP1, while his team mate Kevin Magnussen understeered head-on into the barrier at the final corner in FP2 and Manor's Rio Haryanto had a heavy impact heading into turn 10. And that's not to mention Jenson Button's McLaren being damaged by a flying drain cover that hadn't been sufficiently welded down!

All the teams have had plenty of time on Friday to get things patched up, but no one can afford such mishaps today. The teams and drivers have just 60 minutes worth of practice left to get themselves ready for qualifying. It's scheduled to get underway at 11am local time (10am BST), and F1i will be right here bringing you all the latest news and information from trackside on F1i's live page the minute that it happens. Don't miss out!

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.