Perez narrowly beats Leclerc in final practice at Monaco

Sergio Perez ended Charles Leclerc’s run on top of the practice times in Monaco ahead of today’s crucial qualifying session.

The pair were separated by four hundredths of a second at the end of the final hour of practice around the Monte Carlo street circuit. Carlos Sainz Jnr was third fastest, with Max Verstappen fourth in the second Red Bull.

For the third session in a row, clear blue skies greeted the drivers as the track opened for the final hour of running before qualifying, with ambient temperatures in the mid-20C range and slowly rising. Despite being the final opportunity to prepare their cars for the most crucial qualifying session of the season, many of the teams were no rush to get out onto the circuit in the opening minutes.

Fernando Alonso set the initial pace with a 1’15.809 on the soft tyres – well off the benchmark set by Leclerc yesterday – before he improved by over a second to a 1’14.757. Eventually, the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz joined the circuit, with Leclerc jumping to the top of the times on a 1’13.647. Verstappen then split the two Ferraris, a few hundredths behind his championship rival.

Perez then lowered the fastest time on a 1’13.297, which was then matched exactly by Leclerc by the nearest thousandth of a second. Leclerc then improved to go quickest of all, lowering the best time to a 1’12.885.

As with on Friday, Sainte Devote was proving the most difficult area of the circuit. Lando Norris bailed out of a lap after locking up approaching the first corner, before Lance Stroll did the same moments later with Sainz making a near identical error not long after. Lewis Hamilton brushed the wall lightly on the exit of Tabac, but was able to continue with no harm done.

Traffic was also a major concern once again in the final hour. Sainz was involved in two incidents, first allegedly impeding Stroll into the final corner of Anthony Noghes, before a scary incident approaching Casino Square left Sebastian Vettel audibly unhappy at having to avoid the slow Ferrari. The stewards have announced Sainz’s incident with Stroll is under investigation along with another between Verstappen and Zhou Guanyu.

Verstappen improved to go second quickest, just over three tenths off from Leclerc’s best, before Sainz went fastest of all ahead of the pair of them. Stroll’s eventful session ended at the exit of the Swimming Pool when he hit the outside barrier. He was able to safely recover to the pits, but did not re-emerge.

Heading into the final ten minutes, times were again improving at the top of the times sheets. Leclerc re-took the top spot, until Perez improved to go quickest. Leclerc jumped back to the top on his next effort, before Perez improved to take the number one spot a second time from the Ferrari.

At the chequered flag flew to end practice, Perez ended the session fastest of all to break Leclerc’s run of quickest times. Sainz was third, three tenths away from Perez, with Verstappen fourth fastest and four tenths back.

Pierre Gasly put AlphaTauri fifth over seven tenths back, just ahead of Norris and Hamilton in the first of the Mercedes. The top ten positions were rounded out by Kevin Magnussen, George Russell and Fernando Alonso.

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2022 Monaco Grand Prix third practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	RB18	1’12.476		25
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	F1-75	1’12.517	-0.139	26
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	F1-75	1’12.846	0.190	26
4	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	RB18	1’12.881	0.225	27
5	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’13.210	0.554	20
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’13.226	0.570	17
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W13	1’13.375	0.719	24
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’13.436	0.780	22
9	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W13	1’13.476	0.820	24
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’13.585	0.929	21
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’13.645	0.989	23
12	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’13.827	1.171	24
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’13.838	1.182	26
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’13.849	1.193	23
15	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’13.882	1.226	20
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’14.104	1.448	27
17	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’14.260	1.604	20
18	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’14.639	1.983	20
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’14.861	2.205	23
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’14.910	2.254	24

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2022 Monaco Grand Prix complete practice results

Position	Number	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	FP3 time	Gap	Laps
1	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1’14.570	1’13.035	1’12.476		86
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’14.531	1’12.656	1’12.517	-0.139	85
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’14.601	1’12.700	1’12.846	0.044	86
4	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1’14.712	1’13.103	1’12.881	0.225	86
5	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	1’15.083	1’13.636	1’13.210	0.554	85
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’15.056	1’13.294	1’13.226	0.570	72
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’15.499	1’14.267	1’13.375	0.719	82
8	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’15.211	1’13.406	1’13.476	0.750	89
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’15.806	1’14.239	1’13.436	0.780	83
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1’15.749	1’13.912	1’13.585	0.929	80
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	1’15.536	1’14.134	1’13.645	0.989	86
12	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1’18.636	1’14.894	1’13.827	1.171	68
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’15.387	1’14.059	1’13.838	1.182	90
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	No time	1’14.468	1’13.849	1.193	53
15	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’16.110	1’14.486	1’13.882	1.226	92
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1’15.157	No time	1’14.104	1.448	62
17	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’16.315	1’15.216	1’14.260	1.604	77
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’16.417	1’14.525	1’14.861	1.869	72
19	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’15.539	1’14.623	1’14.639	1.967	75
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1’17.714	1’16.276	1’14.910	2.254	87

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