Title-chasing George Russell topped the times for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in Saturday’s third and final free practice at the Italian Grand Prix.
The two Britons, who lie second and third in the championship 59 points adrift of leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, finished the session narrowly ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull and the 20-year-old Italian, who was fourth.
Antonelli went into Saturday’s action knowing that wherever he qualified he was set to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid after taking penalties for power-unit changes.
Russell clocked a fastest lap in one minute and 22.219 seconds to outpace Hamilton by 0.226sec before the session ended after Hamilton and Verstappen revived memories of their acrimonious 2021 battle for the title with a near-clash on track in the final seconds.
World champion Lando Norris was fifth for McLaren, four-tenths off the pace, ahead of Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari, Racing Bulls’ rookie Arvid Lindblad and Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.
The session came alive in the final 15 minutes as Russell went top ahead of Antonelli, Verstappen and the two Ferraris, the Englishman clocking 1:22.463 to outpace his team-mate by two-tenths.
This delivered mock-qualifying conditions with some teams considering slipstreaming practice ahead of qualifying later Saturday, a session expected to be run in higher temperatures than Friday when the track was recorded at a season-high 56C.
Verstappen showed his exasperation at the heavy traffic in typical outright fashion on team radio: “This Ferrari again… always in the way.”
Russell trimmed his time and Hamilton rose to second ahead of the Dutchman with Antonelli third before a late scrap and skirmish between the two multiple champions in the final seconds.
