Everything that happened in final Monaco GP F1 practice

Sergio Perez won a superb battle with Charles Leclerc and put Red Bull ahead in final Monaco Grand Prix practice.

In an enthralling session, Leclerc appeared to have the edge as he reclaimed top spot every time he was usurped – something that happened repeatedly, usually thanks to Perez but occasionally via the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz too.

A 1m12.517s with three minutes to go looked like it had settled the session in Leclerc’s favour.

But Perez had one more flying lap to come and inched ahead by 0.041s to top practice three with a 1m12.476s.

They were nearly fourth tenths of a second clear of the rest, with Sainz third ahead of Max Verstappen.

The championship-leading Red Bull driver complained of traffic delays and understeer in the key part of the session.

Traffic was certainly a theme – as well as Verstappen being held up by Guanyu Zhou, Perez blocking George Russell and two incidents involving Sainz caught the stewards’ attention.

Those Sainz moments involved Aston Martin drivers Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel, with Vettel reeling over how dangerous their near-miss at Massenet felt.

Sainz also had a trip down the Sainte Devote escape road, as did Yuki Tsunoda and Stroll. But it was Stroll who had the session’s only crash – hitting the Swimming Pool barriers but making it back to the pits.

Pierre Gasly beat Lando Norris to be best of the rest in fifth for AlphaTauri, with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell seventh and ninth, sandwiching Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine.

After his crash yesterday, Daniel Ricciardo was only 16th in the second McLaren.

Practice 3 Results