Hamilton crashes, Red Bull 1-2 in final Monaco practice

Max Verstappen topped the final Formula 1 practice session before qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton crashed his upgraded Mercedes, bringing the session to a premature end.

Key moments:

> Late red flag as Hamilton crashes

> Verstappen fastest…but only by a narrow margin

> Top 16 covered by one second

> Magnussen stops Haas on track

Hamilton had an uncharacteristic crash with just over five minutes of FP3 remaining when he lost control of his W14 at Mirabeau right after setting the fastest first sector time.

Lewis apologises to the team before hopping out of the car #MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/B9Vro4aZVe

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2023

That caused a red flag and the session wasn’t resumed, preventing a flurry of late laps and leaving Verstappen as the final practice pacesetter on a 1m12.776s.

He was 0.073s faster than Red Bull team-mate and defending Monaco GP winner Sergio Perez.

The top three was completed by the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, who was just 0.166s slower than Verstappen.

Stroll’s team-mate Fernando Alonso ended up 14th after he was denied a late flying lap by both Hamilton’s crash and Kevin Magnussen bringing his Haas to a halt just before Portier – an incident that triggered a virtual safety car period that only ended a few minutes before the red flag.

Magnussen's FP3 is over ❌

He's instructed by the team to stop the car and is climbing out of his car #MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/5121UxYQXG

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2023

Prior to stopping Magnussen spent a minute slowly multiple-point turning his way out of the Ste Devote escape road.

The other major drama in the session was Esteban Ocon briefly stopping his Alpine on track in the tunnel early in FP3 but he managed to restart his car and went on to set the ninth-fastest time.

Behind the Red Bulls and Stroll came the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was sixth ahead of home hero Leclerc and Hamilton who was eighth, with team-mate George Russell in 11th, having got away with a “hefty” impact against the outside wall entering La Rascasse.

Clonk 💥

📻 Russell reports a hefty hit approaching Rascasse before returning to the pits #MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Iprx9RlDap

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2023

The top 10 was rounded out by Ocon and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

Practice 3 Results