Vettel tops close FP3 ahead of Mercedes, Red Bull

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Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of a close final practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix as Red Bull's potential was hidden.

The Ferrari driver was quickest with a 1:14.650, leaving him just 0.018s ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The defending champion was fastest in the first two sectors but only marginally up on Vettel's time when he appeared to be distracted slightly by some traffic at Rascasse.

Nico Rosberg was third, 0.122s slower than Vettel, with Daniel Ricciardo only fourth quickest. Ricciardo had been fastest early on but was unable to complete a clean final lap on ultrasoft tyres due to a number of yellow flags, failing to improve with a late attempt.

Ricciardo's lap of 1:14.807 was exactly 0.2s slower than his time from FP2 in a sign of how much more potential is in the Red Bull, with even Vettel failing to beat Thursday's benchmark.

Max Verstappen had been second to his team-mate during the early session, but on what should have been his final attempt he locked up at Massenet and hit the barrier on the outside of the circuit. The right hand side of the car sustained light damage - with the front wing broken - but Verstappen was able to limp back to the pits and eventually squeezed in a lap good enough for fifth quickest right at the end of the session.

Toro Rosso continued to impress with Daniil Kvyat sixth and Carlos Sainz seventh, with Kvyat looking especially dialled in as he grazed the inside barrier at the second part of the Swimming Pool chicane. Sergio Perez was eighth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen - who appeared to not get in a clean lap - and Nico Hulkenberg.

Jolyon Palmer had another big moment after his crash on Thursday morning, with the Renault driver losing the rear of his car at the high speed first part of the Swimming Pool. Spinning on exit, Palmer was lucky to just brush the outside barrier and damage his rear wing, sliding to a halt at the second chicane and managing to get back to the pits.

Numerous drivers ran off at Sainte Devote, with Palmer's team-mate Kevin Magnussen eventually abandoning his car there late in the session. Vettel also had a big moment under braking for the Nouvelle Chicane but managed to keep his Ferrari out of the barrier.

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Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
01	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:14.650	25
02	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:14.668	24
03	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:14.772	29
04	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:14.807	22
05	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:15.081	17
06	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:15.259	23
07	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:15.324	26
08	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:15.368	21
09	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:15.555	22
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:15.666	20
11	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:16.068	29
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:16.257	24
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:16.298	23
14	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:16.347	21
15	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:16.406	23
16	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:16.412	13
17	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:16.527	27
18	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:16.867	23
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:17.038	32
20	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:17.482	17
21	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:17.595	32
22	Rio Haryanto	Manor	1:18.180	34

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.