As it happened: 2024 Italian Grand Prix third practice

This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.

The chequered flag falls and it’s a Mercedes one-two in final practice. Full report to follow, here’s the times:
1. Lewis Hamilton: 1’20.117
2. George Russell: 1’20.210
3. Charles Leclerc: 1’20.226
4. Oscar Piastri: 1’20.252
5. Lando Norris: 1’20.262
6. Max Verstappen: 1’20.368
7. Carlos Sainz Jnr: 1’20.463
8. Alexander Albon: 1’20.596
9. Franco Colapinto: 1’20.905
10. Nico Hulkenberg: 1’20.943
11. Fernando Alonso: 1’20.968
12. Daniel Ricciardo: 1’21.077
13. Yuki Tsunoda: 1’21.141
14. Pierre Gasly: 1’21.155
15. Lance Stroll: 1’21.157
16. Kevin Magnussen: 1’21.208
17. Esteban Ocon: 1’21.258
18. Sergio Perez: 1’21.287
19. Valtteri Bottas: 1’21.357
20. Zhou Guanyu: 1’22.035

Leclerc also complaining about Hamilton dawdling on the track. Magnussen has stopped on the approach to Ascari after being told to by his team.

Verstappen’s car doesn’t look comfortable turning into the quick corners in the middle of the lap and although he sets the fastest final sector of all he doesn’t improve his previous time and stays sixth.

Last knockings of the session and last chance for Verstappen to improve as he starts another lap. Team mate Sergio Perez is mired down in 17th after messing up a lap at the Roggia chicane earlier on.

Russell takes the top time but Hamilton immediately beats it, a 1’20.117 for the Ferrari-bound Mercedes driver. Verstappen is two-tenths off Hamilton which is respectable but the times are so close he’s only sixth.

Race control have noted Piastri, Ricciardo and Leclerc over a potential impeding incident. Leclerc said on the radio he didn’t realise Piastri was coming up behind him. We’re going to get a sign of how quick Red Bull are now as Verstappen has joined the track on a set of softs.

A significant improvement from Charles Leclerc with 15 minutes remaining. He gets down to a 1’20.226 which puts him almost a quarter of a second ahead of Sainz at the top of the times. We’ve still not seen a competitive run from Verstappen on the softs, however.

Mercedes still have a problem with their drivers getting too hot. Russell: “My seat is very hot again.”

Sainz uses his new power unit to set the quickest time with a 1’20.463, Leclerc slotting in a tenth of a second slower to make it a Ferrari one-two at Monza.

Verstappen complaining about Hamilton being on the racing line and off the pace at Ascari.

Sainz has taken a new power unit today but he’s still within his allocation so no penalty. Just the ticket in time for qualifying at the fastest circuit on the calendar.

Albon showing even more pace now – he goes quickest! A 1’20.596 puts him on top by 0.018s over Leclerc.

Albon showing some pace in the updated Williams, half a second off the fastest time in eighth place, which is were he qualified last weekend before he was disqualified. Colapinto goes half a second off him just now, leaving him 13th.

Charles Leclerc improves the best time to a 1’20.612, less than a tenth of a second quicker than Russell. With times this close, getting a good tow is clearly going to be a significant factor in qualifying.

Ferrari temporarily hold the top time courtesy of Carlos Sainz Jnr, then George Russell beats that. But it’s close: Less than a tenth of a second covers the top four as Lewis Hamilton moves into third.

Lando Norris beats his team mate’s mark by exactly a tenth of a second, also on softs.

Oscar Piastri, who looked quick yesterday but lost time in his final sector, goes top with a 1’20.887, a tenth of a second off the best time we’ve seen so far, on softs. Verstappen 0.063s off on mediums.

Kevin Magnussen is first to put up a time with a 1’21.774 on softs. Verstappen, on mediums, beats that with by two tenths of a second.

Final practice is go. We’ve got the Saubers and Aston Martins out to begin with, plus Daniel Ricciardo, who is no fan of the revisions made to the circuit for this year.

Track conditions improved quickly throughout yesterday’s running after the extensive resurfacing which was done prior to this weekend’s race. Lap times were half a second quicker yesterday compared to 12 months ago.

One team to watch in this session is Williams, as Alexander Albon expected them to be quicker yesterday but felt he didn’t get the best out of his qualifying simulation run. Team mate Franco Colapinto will have his first taste of an F1 qualifying session and with the times so close he faces a stiff challenge to progress beyond Q1. But the team will surely be content for him to make it through his first weekend unscathed and avoid a repeat of the huge crash his predecessor had in this session one week ago.

The opening practice sessions yesterday indicated we have a close fight on our hands so the upcoming final hour will give some fascinating further insight into the state of play between the top four teams. Mercedes and McLaren led the way on the timing sheets yesterday, but Red Bull’s true pace was disguised by Max Verstappen’s mistake on his quickest lap and Ferrari were dialling in a significant new upgrade.

A few hours before the session began Mercedes made the long-expected announcement that Andrea Kimi Antonelli will drive for them next year, taking the place Lewis Hamilton will vacate when he laves to join Ferrari. Antonelli’s heavy crash six laps into yesterday’s first practice session, which delayed George Russell’s start to the second hour of running, clearly did nothing to discourage them for plumping for the 18-year-old who won three different junior championships last year and began testing their F1 car shortly after the season began.

Third practice for the 2024 Italian Grand Prix is coming up next.

2024 Italian Grand Prix

• Verstappen faces post-race investigation along with five other drivers and McLaren
• Red Bull lose constructors’ championship lead for first time in two years
• “Never had so much pain in a car”: How Colapinto impressed Williams on his debut
• F1’s most competitive season for 47 years? Four teams now have three wins each
• “Can I have my PU performance back?” – Verstappen’s “tough” Monza race on his radio