Perez beats Leclerc to top final practice

With less than three minutes left on the clock Leclerc demoted Perez to second, but the Mexican responded in the dying seconds to go top with a 1m12.476s lap, 0.041s quicker than Leclerc.

Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso set the first lap times in F1’s third and final practice session on the sunny streets of the principality.

They were soon joined by McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo, who sought to make the most of FP3 after missing most of Friday’s FP2 due to slipping up at the swimming pool section on his first lap.

But all eyes were on pre-event favourite Leclerc, who joined the track after eight minutes on softs and took over an early lead from team-mate Carlos Sainz with a 1m14.008s effort.

Red Bull’s first laps were four tenths shy of its title rival’s pace, Max Verstappen briefly taking third ahead of Perez, with Alonso an early fifth.

Leclerc’s second effort was a lot quicker still, taking the benchmark down to a 1m13.647s. It started a cycle of Ferrari and Red Bull trading blows on Pirelli’s softest compound as track evolution continued to bring the times down, with Perez and Leclerc even setting an identical time of 1m13.297s.

By the 30-minute mark Leclerc had gone top again with a 1m12.885s, two tenths off his best time of FP2.

Meanwhile McLaren’s Lando Norris briefly reclaimed his best of the rest spot in fifth, which he had held all of Friday, only to lose it to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly before halfway.

Mercedes struggled for pace early on, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton down in seventh and 10th respectively as Hamilton appeared puzzled at the 1.2s gap he was facing.

Sainz went straight on at Ste Devote while trying to match Sainz around the Monegasque’s home track, something which also happened to Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

During a mid-session lull in the action with just over 20 minutes to go, Norris found a clear track to go third, soon to be…