Antonelli tops Monaco FP3 after Bearman crash shortens the session

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli usurped the previously dominant Ferrari drivers for top spot in the final practice session at the Monaco Grand Prix after a crash involving the Haas of Oliver Bearman effectively ended the hour 15 minutes early.

Bearman was taking a wider line through Massenet to avoid a slow-moving George Russell – the Briton was attempting to make himself scarce, hugging the inside barrier – when his car bottomed out, sending him sliding through the corner and making rear-right contact with the barrier.

“It’s the f****** bottoming,” he said apologetically. “I totally lost it on the bump.”

With so many cars on track and without the time to properly warm the tires, no driver inside the top 10 could improve, leaving the order fixed as it was before the suspension.

Antonelli looked competitive throughout the hour, leading the timesheet at the end of the first half-hour with his original set of new softs.

The field returned to pit lane at the halfway mark for fresh soft rubber on which they would set their final times, and Antonelli lowered the benchmark to 1m12.720s, but Charles Leclerc, his closest challenger all hour, had his fastest lap blocked by traffic in the final sector.

Another attempt got the Ferrari man to within 0.327s of Antonelli, though his first sector was slower than it had been on that earlier aborted lap, and Bearman’s red flag ensured he couldn’t improve further.

The result would have compounded Leclerc’s frustration, having complained about stability under braking, as he had on Friday.

“These brakes are horrendous – horrendous,” he said late in the hour.

Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari looked less planted and more snappy in FP3 than it had on Friday, when he was fastest during FP2. The Briton ran two warm-up laps, meaning he got just one timed attempt in before the red flag, leaving him 0.331s off the pace and 0.004s behind his teammate.

Russell faded through the session from only a couple of tenths behind Antonelli on his first set of softs to 0.763s off the pace with his second set, unable to string together a clean lap to improve on his original time.

Max Verstappen was fifth and 0.942s off the pace, having failed to find significant improvement with his second set of tires.

Oscar Piastri was sixth for McLaren and the last driver within a second of the leader, but the Australian suffered for joining the session late and running out of sync with most of the rest of the field. It meant he hadn’t had a chance to set a flying lap on fresh rubber before the red flag, meaning his 0.978s margin was based on a time set with his first tires much earlier in the hour.

Gabriel Bortoleto pinched seventh place for Audi from Red Bull Racing’s Isack Hadjar and McLaren’s Lando Norris, the latter two front-runners still feeling the effects of lost track time owing to a crash and a car failure respectively on Friday.

Nico Hulkenberg ended the hour 10th, completing the third straight practice session featuring both Audi drivers inside the top 10.

Esteban Ocon was 11th in the last remaining Haas ahead of Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and the crashed-out Bearman.

Liam Lawson’s loose-looking Racing Bulls car slid its way to 15th ahead of Alex Albon and Arvid Lindblad.

Sergio Perez beat Franco Colapinto to 18th for Cadillac despite reporting some from his front brakes on his opening lap, though unlike on Friday, the situation didn’t devolve into a terminal brake fire. Teammate Valtteri Bottas reported similar smokiness on his opening lap but was able to complete the session in 20th.

Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll propped up the order in 21st and 22nd.

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