Lewis Hamilton extended his advantage over team-mate Nico Rosberg during the final practice session for the Italian Grand Prix.
The championship leader - who was in confident mood after improvements on Friday - set the pace with a 1:22.008 on the supersoft tyre, setting the fastest three sectors as he dominated FP3. Rosberg was 0.393s adrift of his team-mate as the two Mercedes drivers completed their qualifying simulations before their rivals.
With the benchmark set, the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull could not get close to the defending champions, with Sebastian Vettel third quickest but some 0.9s off the pace set by Hamilton. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth but some 1.1s slower than the fastest time, as Mercedes showed better performance on the supersoft tyre than it had at the same stage of the weekend in Belgium.
Raikkonen did manage to match his best time with a second flying lap immediately after his first, suggesting Ferrari is still unsure how to best prepare its tyres after Pirelli lowered tyre pressures slightly overnight to 23.0 PSI front and 20.5 PSI rear. It also remains to be seen how much added performance Ferrari's power unit gives when all the engines are turned up in qualifying.
Red Bull struggled somewhat as the two Williams drivers finished the session in fifth and sixth places ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Once again Verstappen was on the receiving end of criticism after blocking Rosberg early in the session, and later the Dutch driver complained "the car is moving around way too much".
Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez rounded out the top ten, with Haas looking capable of challenging for a spot in Q3 as one of three teams - including Force India and McLaren - covered by less than 0.2s. Only Gutierrez enjoyed a clean session for the team, however, as Romain Grosjean spun off after just four laps.
Grosjean's spin came at the Ascari chicane, keeping the car out of the barriers but getting stuck in the gravel, ending his session after 12 minutes. Grosjean ended the session 14th despite that error, one position ahead of Jolyon Palmer who went off at Parabolica late on and did well to keep his car out of the barrier.
Having looked quick for sections of the session, the two Manor drivers ended FP3 slowest - with Pascal Wehrlein just ahead of Esteban Ocon - but just 1.3s covered fifth to 22nd as the midfield remained closely matched on performance.
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| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:22.008 | 14 |
| 02 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:22.401 | 17 |
| 03 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:22.946 | 13 |
| 04 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:23.149 | 12 |
| 05 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:23.500 | 20 |
| 06 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:23.647 | 19 |
| 07 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:23.709 | 23 |
| 08 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:23.740 | 21 |
| 09 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:23.917 | 20 |
| 10 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 1:24.034 | 15 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:24.041 | 21 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:24.104 | 11 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:24.240 | 17 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:24.463 | 4 |
| 15 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:24.533 | 13 |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:24.542 | 20 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:24.658 | 12 |
| 18 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:24.715 | 19 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:24.793 | 12 |
| 20 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:24.845 | 17 |
| 21 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 1:24.893 | 19 |
| 22 | Esteban Ocon | Manor | 1:24.938 | 15 |
