Monaco GP: Dominant Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2 in FP3

The four-time F1 champion ended the hour-long session 0.345s clear of teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who propped up a Ferrari 1-2.

Just like both of Thursday's practice sessions, the ulrasoft-dominated FP3 provided yet another fastest-ever lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, Vettel's 1m12.395s a three-tenth improvement on his own previous record.

After an initial flood of installation laps in the opening minutes, Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was first of the frontrunners to kick off a proper run, the Finn quickly establishing himself at the top of the timesheets.

But compatriot Raikkonen's first effort dethroned Bottas immediately, the Ferrari man posting a 1m13.568s as Bottas himself then came up 0.053s short.

Despite causing a brief yellow flag as he stopped just short of the barriers at Antony Noghes, Raikkonen lowered the session benchmark further with his next proper effort - a 1m13.379s.

Lewis Hamilton briefly returned Mercedes to the top spot, but was relegated behind the two Scuderia cars in no time, Vettel now edging ahead of Raikkonen via a 1m12.890s lap.

The other Mercedes of Bottas was shuffled down even further at the conclusion of his first run, with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat splitting the two Silver Arrows.

As the session passed its halfway point, Verstappen broke up Ferrari's 1-2 at the top of the timing screens, going 0.050s off 12 laps into his ultrasoft stint.

But the Italian team soon restored the status quo, Vettel finally beating Thursday's best lap with a 1m12.558s effort a few seconds after Raikkonen had overtaken him and Verstappen.

Vettel then went even quicker, the German stringing together three purple sectors for a 1m12.395s – and going just 0.003s slower with his next push lap.

By that point, Mercedes now had its first sub-1m13s lap of Monaco courtesy of Bottas, who emerged as best of the rest behind the Ferraris heading into the final few minutes.

But the running in what had been a largely incident-free session was then disrupted when Esteban Ocon hit the guardrail on entry into Swimming Pool, damaging his Force India's right-front suspension and going nose-first into the barriers.

This triggered a Virtual Safety Car as the Force India was removed from the track, leaving less than four minutes for those seeking to do a last-gasp qualifying run.

Improvements were few and far between in the hectic final minutes, leaving Ferrari with a comfortable 1-2 out front.

Bottas took third ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton, with Daniel Ricciardo in sixth after a suspected brake failure at the chequered flag left him stranded at the escape road at Ste Devote.

Toro Rosso preserved its strong form from Thursday, Carlos Sainz leading teammate Kvyat in seventh.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, who had drawn the ire of Ocon for holding him up in the final sector, was ninth, while McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne made up the top 10.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	23	1'12.395
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	26	1'12.740	0.345
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	29	1'12.830	0.435
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	27	1'12.940	0.545
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	27	1'13.230	0.835
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	24	1'13.392	0.997
7	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	27	1'13.400	1.005
8	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	23	1'13.563	1.168
9	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	21	1'13.596	1.201
10	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	21	1'13.805	1.410
11	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	23	1'13.936	1.541
12	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	26	1'13.976	1.581
13	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	21	1'14.072	1.677
14	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	28	1'14.072	1.677
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	24	1'14.283	1.888
16	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	23	1'14.547	2.152
17	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	35	1'14.675	2.280
18	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	25	1'15.164	2.769
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	29	1'15.291	2.896
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	26	1'15.863	3.468