Lando Norris kept McLaren on top in final practice for the 2025 Italian Grand Prix, but the relative pace of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull suggests Formula 1 is shaping up for a tight pole fight in qualifying later.
The caveat is that Norris reached the summit relatively early during the qualifying simulations at Monza, meaning he didn’t have the same benefit of track evolution as Leclerc and Verstappen, who both set their best laps after the chequered flag fell.
The McLaren was again impressively quick through the medium/high-speed corners of sector two, while the Ferrari showed better straightline speed in low-downforce trim.
Norris finished the session quickest on a 1m19.331s lap, but Leclerc - who made a notable save at Lesmo 2 at one point - was just 0.021s behind.
Another Leclerc save - this time at Lesmo 2 😵#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/Ep17G6Oxdl
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 6, 2025
Oscar Piastri made it two McLarens in the top three but he was 0.165s off Norris despite several attempts to chip away at the gap.
Verstappen put Red Bull fourth with his final lap of the session, just 0.002s behind Piastri, having earlier traded places on the timesheet with the McLaren either side of aborting a lap following a trip through the gravel.
George Russell recovered from a difficult Friday for Mercedes, when he complained of “floating around with a loose rear end” and struggling for confidence, to lap fifth-quickest in FP3, within two tenths of the pace.
Rookie Gabriel Bortoleto continued Sauber’s strong weekend thus far with the sixth-fastest time, just 0.043s behind Russell and ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. At one stage the Sauber was even up there with the McLarens before being shuffled back.
The Ferraris were relatively late onto the soft tyre after pounding around on mediums for most of the session, but where Leclerc made it work right at the end, Hamilton was only seventh on the soft tyre, telling Ferrari his car “needs more juice”.
Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls was eighth, but he might be in trouble with the stewards for rejoining the track incorrectly after missing the second chicane.
Stewards are going to look at this after the session 👀
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 6, 2025
Hadjar not following the escape road instructions at Turn 4 #F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/jl9BRNfMTA
He was 0.093s ahead of Kimi Antonelli, who spent most of FP3 doing long runs for Mercedes to make up for beaching his car in the gravel in FP2.
Alex Albon rounded out the top 10 for Williams, which fell back a bit after a strong Friday. Team boss James Vowles confirmed the team is again struggling to extract performance from the softest tyre compound.
Nevertheless the differences are marginal. The top 10 was covered by less than four tenths of a second in FP3, and the entire field was covered by just under a second - with Esteban Ocon’s Haas the slowest of those 20 cars.
Ocon was involved in a bizarre tit-for-tat with Verstappen’s Red Bull in FP3, re-passing it on the exit of the first chicane, leading Verstappen to call Ocon “such a dick” on the radio, before enacting his own petty revenge by blocking Ocon later on at the second chicane.
Session results
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m19.331s
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.021s
3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.165s
4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.167s
5 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.184s
6 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +0.227s
7 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.267s
8 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.272s
9 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.365s
10 Alex Albon (Williams) +0.389s
11 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +0.406s
12 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.530s
13 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.576s
14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +0.703s
15 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.728s
16 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.801s
17 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +0.878s
18 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +0.916s
19 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.916s
20 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +0.973s
