Practice report
Formula 1 Monaco GP
F1 Monaco GP: Charles Leclerc tops FP3 as Lewis Hamilton crashes
Leclerc heads Verstappen into F1 Monaco GP qualifying as Lewis Hamilton crashes to cause a sole red flag
Filip Cleeren
Edited: May 24, 2025, 1:06 PM
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Ferrari's Charles Leclerc has made it a clean sweep of practice sessions at F1's Monaco Grand Prix as a tyre enigma sets up an intriguing qualifying session, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton tagged the wall.
Having topped Friday's two practice sessions, Leclerc bested Red Bull's Max Verstappen to head into qualifying as the slight favourite to make it back-to-back poles at his home race.
Leclerc improved on Verstappen's time at the end of the session, with his 1m11.179s just 0.054s quicker than the world champion's effort on mediums, before improving his time to a 1m10.953s to go nearly three tenths clear.
That highlighted the headache Pirelli's tyre selection is causing teams into qualifying, as Verstappen struggled to go quicker on the soft C6 compound than on his C5 medium tyre.
Verstappen complained the C6 had "no grip at all" into Turn 1, while drivers resorted to trying two consecutive cool-down laps to get the red-walled tyre back into the right operating window.
The start of the final one-hour session at the sunny riviera was a largely leisurely affair as only six drivers took to the track over the first quarter.
The session picked up in the second quarter with Leclerc and Norris trading turns at the top of the leaderboard as times were whittled down on a street circuit that was opened to the public overnight and looked more slippery than it was on Friday afternoon.
Verstappen went top on the medium tyres after 24 minutes, briefly deposed by Leclerc before he found more pace around the halfway mark with a 1m11.233s.
After a brief mid-session lull, teams tried different tactics the exploit the soft tyres, but nobody appeared capable of besting Verstappen's medium time.
Mercedes George Russell said he was out of ideas as he was urged to try double cool-down laps, with traffic issues further hampering several flyers.
Verstappen couldn't find improvement on the softs either as he voiced his dislike of the C6 compound, but in the dying minutes Leclerc did find pace to make it a clean sweep of all three practice sessions.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Norris and Oscar Piastri were third and fourth fastest for McLaren, respectively three and four tenths behind the Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton was fifth, but as he chased a late improvement the seven-time world champion lost control over his Ferrari in the long left-hander of Massenet, sliding into the barriers with his right-rear and then right-front, causing a red flag that effectively ended the session.
Alex Albon was sixth for Williams followed by Racing Bulls man Liam Lawson, who confirmed a solid start to the weekend on Friday. The second Williams of Carlos Sainz was eighth ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, all within a second of Leclerc. Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli headed team-mate Russell to round out the top 10.
F1 Monaco GP - FP3 results
Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
1
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4
Main Information Additional Data
1
-
2
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval Tyres km/h 1 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 25
1'10.953
S 169.312 2 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1
Red Bull Red Bull 23
+0.280
1'11.233
0.280 M 168.646 3 L. Norris McLaren 4
McLaren Mercedes 23
+0.294
1'11.247
0.014 S 168.613 4 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 21
+0.445
1'11.398
0.151 S 168.256 5 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
Ferrari Ferrari 26
+0.563
1'11.516
0.118 S 167.979 6 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 24
+0.715
1'11.668
0.152 S 167.622 7 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30
RB Honda 33
+0.861
1'11.814
0.146 S 167.282 8 C. Sainz Williams 55
Williams Mercedes 24
+0.940
1'11.893
0.079 S 167.098 9 Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing 22
Red Bull Red Bull 21
+0.999
1'11.952
0.059 S 166.961 10
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 
Mercedes Mercedes 23
+1.060
1'12.013
0.061 S 166.819 View full results
Photos from Monaco GP - Practice
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Saturday
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