Practice report
Formula 1 Monaco GP
Monaco GP: Dominant Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2 in FP3
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was quickest again in the Saturday morning practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Edited: May 27, 2017, 11:42 AM
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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.
ClaDriverChassisEngineLapsTimeGap 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
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