Monza, FP3: Vettel continues to set the pace as Hamilton closes in

Less than a tenth of a second!

By Franck Drui

1 September 2018 - 13:02
Monza, FP3: Vettel continues to (...)

Sebastian Vettel continued to set the pace in final practice for the Italian Grand Prix, but the Ferrari driver was pushed hard by title rival Lewis Hamilton who finished just eight hundredths of a second behind the German.

Ferrari were quickly to the fore in the hour-long session, with Kimi Räikkönen setting the early pace with a time of 1:21.399. Vettel might have challenged that but he suffered a lock up in Turn 1 and was forced to abandon the attempt. He lapped again and set a time of some six tenths of a second behind the Finn and it was thus left to Hamilton to try to eclipse Räikkönen in the opening exhancges.

The Mercedes driver obliged, though only by the tiny margin of 0.007s, leaving Räikkönen second and third-placed Vettel on his way to the pit lane with a vibration from his flat-spotted tyre as the session moved into its second half.

The German then emerged on a fresh set of supersoft tyres and immediately jumped to the top of the order, initially with a time of 1m21.035s, before improving massively with a second attempt of 1:20.509s. The German also reported a mistake at Prabolica and suggested there was more time available there.

Räikkönen then made it a Ferrari one-two as he posted a best time of 1:20.682, but Hamilton then split the red cars with a time of 1:20.590s to wind up just 0.081s than Vettel. Just 0.173s covered the top three in the session.

Valtteri Bottas, in the second Mercedes, finished in fourth place some six tenths off the pace, while Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen fifth and almost nine tenths of a second adrift of Vettel.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was only eighth fastest, behind haas’ Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon, but the Australian’s session only featured one early quali style run on supersofts before he spent most of the second half of the session on a long supersoft run.

Sauber’s Charles Leclerc finished the session in ninth place and the top 10 order was rounded out by Romain Grosjean in the second Haas.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:20.509 18
02 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:20.590 14
03 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:20.682 16
04 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes AMG 1:21.112 18
05 Max Verstappen Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:21.388 15
06 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:22.011 15
07 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:22.055 16
08 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:22.310 15
09 Charles Leclerc Sauber Ferrari 1:22.313 17
10 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:22.357 16
11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:22.486 13
12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Honda 1:22.631 20
13 Carlos Sainz Renault F1 1:22.737 15
14 Sergey Sirotkin Williams Mercedes 1:22.778 20
15 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:22.860 19
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:22.882 25
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren Renault 1:22.892 23
18 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Renault 1:22.987 16
19 Nico Hulkenberg Renault F1 1:23.149 10
20 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Honda 1:23.164 19

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