George Russell has been the fastest driver this Saturday in the third and final free practice session of the Italian Grand Prix, the thirteenth race of the Formula 1 World Championship, which takes place at the Monza circuit.
The British driver from Mercedes set a time of 1:22.219 in the best of his 14 laps on the Italian track of 5.793 kilometers. Russell outpaced Lewis Hamilton by 226 thousandths, second with Ferrari, and by 350 to Max Verstappen, third with Red Bull and last year's winner in Monza. The three achieved their best times on soft tires.
Antonelli, fourth before serving his penalty
The leader of the World Championship, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, finished fourth, 361 thousandths behind his teammate. The Italian, however, faces a weekend affected by a penalty after exceeding the allowed limit of component changes of the power unit.
For this reason, Antonelli will have to start from the back of the grid in the race on Sunday, regardless of the position he achieves during the qualifying session.
The Mercedes driver currently leads the championship with 59 points ahead of Russell and Hamilton.
Sainz, 16th, and Alonso, 19th
The last practice session left worse feelings for the Spaniards. Carlos Sainz finished in 16th position with Williams, 1.656 seconds off the best time, while Fernando Alonso was 19th with Aston Martin, just over two seconds behind Russell.
Sainz completed 28 laps of the Monza circuit and is also under investigation for possible irregularities during a period of yellow flags.
Alonso, for his part, accumulated 20 laps on a track particularly significant for his career. The Asturian has achieved two of his 32 Formula 1 victories there: in 2007 with McLaren and in 2010 driving Ferrari.
Everything ready for qualifying
Free Practice 3 leaves Mercedes as one of the references before the fight for pole, with Russell at the front and Antonelli also positioned among the top four.
Ferrari also arrives with good feelings thanks to Hamilton's second place, while Verstappen keeps Red Bull in the fight. For Sainz and Alonso, however, qualifying looks much more complicated after finishing the practice far from the top positions.
The English Lando Norris (McLaren), last world champion, marked -four tenths behind Russell- the fifth time of a last practice in which the slipstreams were abundant, which will be very important in the qualifying session, which starts at four in the afternoon (14:00 GMT).
The other Ferrari -team that races 'at home' in Monza-, that of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, recorded sixth on the time sheet, 489 thousandths behind the Englishman from Mercedes.
The Argentine Franco Colapinto (Alpine), who completed 23 laps, marked the tenth time -at 882 thousandths- of the last practice, in which everyone completed their fast lap with the soft compound and that the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Cadillac) finished with the twenty-first time, two seconds and 812 thousandths behind Russell, in the best of his twenty attempts.