Formula 1 News: Leclerc tops final practice for GP of Monaco

Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc, who topped both Friday practice sessions, turned a lap of 1m10.953s to top the final practice for the 2025 GP of Monaco.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Leclerc, who won here last year, was a healthy 0.280s ahead of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who set his fast time on the medium tires and could not better his time on the soft tires.

Red Bull does not have enough mediums to only run that tire later, no team does. He will have to go on the softs, but can he challenge on the C6 tire?

Lando Norris was third fastest in his #4 McLaren, 0.294s behind Leclerc.  He beat his McLaren teammate who was 4th, 0.445s behind Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-5 in his #44 Ferrari, 0.563s behind his more talented teammate.  The session ended 2 minutes early when Hamilton wadded up the right side of his Ferrari against the Monaco Armco.

Sir Lewis Hamilton’s brush with the wall from his onboard.

pic.twitter.com/km8tIubmXG

— sim (@simsgazette) May 24, 2025

Mercedes are not in contention here so far. Antonelli finished 10th, Russell 11th. Both were over a second off the lead lap time of Leclerc, so it isn’t like they were unlucky – they were simply well off the pace.

Once again, Liam Lawson, fighting to keep his ride, was faster than Racing Bull’s teammate Isack Hadjar in 7th behind Alex Albon’s Williams. Hadjar was down in P17 after clobbering the wall on Friday.

Flavio Briatore’s ‘pet’ driver, Franco Colapinto, could be in more trouble – the stewards are investigating a red flag infringement he might have made.

Based on how Bearman got on with the stewards yesterday, if found guilty, a 10-place grid drop will be coming for the Argentine racer, guaranteeing him a back of the grid start.

2025 GP of Monaco Practice 3 Results