Mercedes driver George Russell has beaten Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to top spot in Formula 1’s final practice session at the Italian Grand Prix.
Russell comfortably held off the seven-time world champion on a toasty Monza circuit, with Max Verstappen and championship leader Kimi Antonelli third and fourth respectively.
After a calm opening quarter of the session, the medium-tyre shod Alpines topped the leaderboard with Franco Colapinto leading Pierre Gasly by a tenth.
Home hero Antonelli upped the ante, putting a 1m23.032s on the board on his first soft-tyre run. His second run looked quicker still, until he stepped over the edge in the final Parabolica corner and had to back out of his timed run.
Red Bull stand-in driver Liam Lawson spun coming out of first chicane, losing the rear of the car, while team-mate Verstappen claimed a temporary second spot behind Antonelli as Red Bull’s handling issues appeared to be only partially addressed overnight.
The pace picked up after the halfway point, when Verstappen came close to Antonelli’s leading time on mediums, shadowed by the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Hamilton, who are sporting a 1996-inspired throwback livery to pay tribute to Michael Schumacher’s debut campaign with the Scuderia.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Verstappen’s effort was the sign for Mercedes to fire in a couple of improved laps, with Russell first setting a 1m22.687s before establishing a 1m22.463s.
Russell was assisted by a big tow from his team-mate as the pair practiced slipstream games ahead of qualifying. With Antonelli set to start from the back of the grid due to an engine penalty, the Italian championship leader is expected to help Russell out in Q3.
On his own tour, Antonelli took second with a 1m22.696s lap, doing little to dent Mercedes’ pre-race favourite expectations of a swift recovery through the field for its title protagonist.
Russell’s final timed run definitively landed him top spot with a 1m22.219s, set five minutes before the end of the one-hour session. Hamilton grabbed a slipstream from Lando Norris to take second, 0.226s in arrears, while Verstappen followed him around into third, ahead of Antonelli.
There were fewer reasons for optimism at McLaren, which had been on the back foot through Friday practice and didn’t appear to have made inroads overnight. World champion Norris settled for fifth, ahead of Leclerc in the second Ferrari after the Monegasque struggled to find a clear lap. Meanwhile, a frustrated Oscar Piastri could only manage eighth after several lock-ups into Turn 1, leading to caustic radio messages on McLaren’s channels.
Racing Bulls, sporting its own version of a rotating rear wing, once again impressed in the hands of 2026’s only rookie Arvid Lindblad. The British teenager took seventh as the best of the rest, beating Piastri as he conceded half a second to Russell.
Alpine duo Gasly and Colapinto rounded out the top 10 as Alpine aims to regain momentum in the midfield battle. There was little change at the rear of the field, with Aston Martin and Cadillac locked in a battle to stay off the final row of the grid.
F1 Italian GP – FP3 Results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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