Italian GP 2024
AUGUST 31, 2024
Practice 3 Report - Mercedes on top of final session
© Mercedes
By Peter Habicht
Another warm day at Monza saw Lewis Hamilton quickest in today's final practice for Mercedes with a 1:20.117s lap, 0.093s ahead of teammate George Russell and 0.109s ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris made up the top five with Red Bull's Max Verstappen in sixth, whose car was struggling with low and medium speed cornering.
Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz was seventh followed by the Williams of Alex Albon and newcomer Franco Colapinto, with Nico Hulkenberg's Haas rounding out the top ten.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was 11th fastest ahead of VCARB's Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, as the Japanese driver continues to adjust to upgrades currently not available yet to Ricciardo.
Alpine's Pierre Gasly was 14th on the timing sheets with Alonso teammate Lance Stroll next and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen 16th, the Danish driver unable to return to the pitlane on his final lap after the team ordered him to stop following a problem with the car.
Alpine's Esteban Ocon placed 17th in the order, with the struggling Red Bull of Sergio Perez experiencing a vibration issue during the session. Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou took the final spots on the timing sheet as Sauber was over a second off the pace set by Mercedes.
Qualifying begins at 4p this afternoon with tomorrow's race start at 3p.