George Russell Impresses at Monza with Fastest Lap in Final Practice
George Russell laid down a serious marker at Monza, setting the pace in final practice and putting himself firmly in the frame for Italian Grand Prix pole.
The Mercedes driver stopped the clock at 1m22.219s, three tenths quicker than Friday’s FP2 benchmark and a lap that came without the benefit of a tow. On a circuit where slipstream games can decide qualifying, Russell showed he may not need anyone’s help.
Mercedes sharpen the Monza weapon
Mercedes spent a chunk of FP3 rehearsing those tows, with Russell and team-mate Kimi Antonelli running in formation to perfect the timing for qualifying. Antonelli carries grid penalties into Sunday, so his role in qualifying will likely be that of rear-gunner and tow-giver.
Even stripped of that assistance, Russell looked hooked up. His best lap ended 0.226s clear of Lewis Hamilton, who backed up Mercedes’ strong form with second place. The car looked planted through Monza’s high-speed sweeps, and the stopwatch underlined it.
Behind them, Max Verstappen restored some order for Red Bull. After a subdued Friday over one lap, the world champion’s single-lap pace looked much healthier as he slotted into third. The gap to Russell remained, but the RB22 at least looked in the fight again.
Hamilton and Verstappen share a flashpoint
Late in the session, the on-track tension between Hamilton and Verstappen flickered again.
Hamilton jumped ahead of Verstappen on the run into Alboreto (Parabolica), slotting in front as they prepared to start flying laps. Verstappen responded with a thumbs-up as they crossed the line, a sarcastic nod that his lap had been compromised, then ran deep into Turn 1, making sure Hamilton couldn’t take the ideal line either.
The stewards noted the incident, a small reminder that even in practice, neither driver is in the mood to yield an inch.
Antonelli shadows the frontrunners
Antonelli, leading the championship and carrying those penalties into the weekend, still showed strong pace in fourth. His presence near the top of the timesheets, despite knowing he will drop back on Sunday, underlines how competitive Mercedes look here.
Behind him, Lando Norris – winner of the last two races – took fifth in the lead McLaren. The team’s outright one-lap speed at Monza did not look as intimidating as in recent rounds, but the picture remains clouded by differing engine modes and energy deployment.
Oscar Piastri offered the clearest illustration of that. On his final run, he lit up the timing screens with the fastest first sector of anyone and remained inside Russell’s benchmark through sector two. The lap faded in the final part, though, and he crossed the line more than half a second down, only eighth-fastest. Same car, same session, wildly different sector profiles – classic Monza power-unit chess.
Ferrari and Racing Bulls mix it with the pack
Charles Leclerc slotted the second Ferrari into the mix between the McLarens, while Arvid Lindblad delivered one of the standout midfield laps in the Racing Bulls.
For a spell near the end of the session, Lindblad owned the fastest final sector of all, helped by a huge tow from Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi. That slipstream flattered the stopwatch and partly explained the gap back to the rest of the midfield, but the lap still put him ahead of the other chasing pack.
Pierre Gasly led that group, finishing ahead of Alpine team-mate Franco Colapinto as the pair locked out the final two spots in the top 10. On a day when the midfield spread out behind the frontrunners, Alpine at least found themselves on the right side of the divide.
Lawson spins, Aston Martin-Cadillac struggle
Liam Lawson’s morning unraveled early. The Red Bull driver looped his RB22 under power as he attacked the first chicane kerb, a lazy spin that underlined how fine the margins are over the Variante Rettifilo bumps. He recovered and got the laps in, but ended the session 12th, almost a second off Russell and more than six tenths down on Verstappen.
At the other end of the order, Fernando Alonso dragged some respectability out of a difficult session for Aston Martin-Cadillac. A late improvement put him at the head of the quartet, but the green cars again looked detached from the main pack, their deficit stubborn and obvious.
As the engines cool before qualifying, one question hangs over Monza’s old banking and modern grandstands alike: with a car this sharp and a lap this clean, can anyone stop George Russell from turning practice dominance into pole?
