Lando Norris was fastest in third practice for the Italian Grand Prix; the McLaren driver set a 19.351 to go two hundredths ahead of Charles Leclerc. Norris set his fastest time towards the end of the session to put himself fastest and split the McLaren’s after going a tenth and a half ahead of Oscar Piastri.
Norris once again looked to have the slight edge over his teammate as he did last weekend until being pipped by Piastri in Q3. A week after topping all three practice sessions at Zandvoort, only to lose out on pole position to Piastri, Norris will head into qualifying on the back of fastest times in the final two practice sessions.
But as was the case in 2024, Ferrari has emerged as a threat as its home race as Charles Leclerc overcame several oversteer scares to take second away from Piastri at the end, his 19.352 lap just two-hundredths off Norris.
Despite appearing to be slightly on the back foot, Max Verstappen put his Red Bull fourth two thousandths behind Piastri, following Friday practice the four-time champion suggested that things looked positive for them to be in the mix this weekend. But that depends on how much McLaren has been hiding.
Verstappen was involved in the session’s most heated incident with Haas’ Esteban Ocon at the first chicane, when the latter cut back ahead of the Red Bull after initially being passed on the inside.
George Russell put in Mercedes best time of the weekend, going fifth; he was four hundredths behind Verstappen as he had the same margin over Gabriel Bortoleto. Sauber is once again looking competitive at the high-speed low-downforce circuit where they were also competitive in Spielberg and Silverstone.
Lewis Hamilton put his Ferrari seventh, four hundredths behind the Brazilian, however the Ferrari driver has a five-place grid penalty for infringements on his reconnaissance laps last weekend in Zandvoort. But the Englishman was one of several drivers including Norris and Bortoletto to run wide at the Rettifilo Chicane.
Qualifying is looking as it will be decided by tiny margins, as just over a quarter of a second covered the top seven with five different teams in the mix. Isack Hadjar put his Racing Bull seventh going just under a tenth ahead of Kimi Antonelli, with Alex Albon two hundredths further behind, completing the top ten.
Nico Hulkenberg missed out on the top ten by just under two hundredths as the Sauber went a tenth and a quarter ahead of the Spanish duo of Fernando Alonso with Carlos Sainz almost half a tenth behind. Franco Colapinto was three-quarters of a tenth ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.
Liam Lawson was sixteenth after missing a bit of the latter part of the session with damage to the floor, but he was also three-quarters of a tenth ahead of Ollie Bearman. Pierre Gasly was eighteenth, fresh from signing a new contract with Alpine until 2028, as he set the identical time as Lance Stroll. Ocon completed the field, six hundredths behind the Aston Martin.
