Perez tops final Monaco F1 practice as Red Bull hit back against Ferrari

In what was a very entertaining FP3 session, Perez, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen all exchanged times at the top of the timesheets in the final hour of running.

Perez’s advantage over teammate Verstappen remained with the Mexican looking at one with the Red Bull RB18 around the tight Monte Carlo streets.

The two-time F1 winner rose to the top of the timesheets in the final 10 minutes, beating Leclerc by less than a tenth of a second to set a 1m12.476s.

• F1 Monaco GP - FP3 results
• Hamilton to Ferrari? ‘It would have been nice, but…’
• McLaren has ‘mechanisms’ that could end Ricciardo’s F1 deal early

Perez’s form around Monaco this weekend comes as a surprise given that he’s never qualified higher than seventh in his career. 

Ferrari continue to have better pace in the middle part of the lap but Perez was unable to be matched in the first sector and final sectors, suggesting that he’s able to keep his tyres in the right window.

The top two were in a league of their own with Sainz 0.3s shy in third, just ahead of reigning champion Verstappen.

Pierre Gasly continued his good form for AlphaTauri, securing fifth albeit with a 0.7s margin to Perez.

Lando Norris was sixth for McLaren ahead of three-time Monaco GP winner Lewis Hamilton.

Kevin Magnussen finished eighth ahead of George Russell, who was impeded by Perez on one of his laps.

The incident has been referred to the stewards and most likely will result in a reprimand for the Red Bull driver.

Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10 for Alpine.

Yuki Tsunoda was 11th in the second AlphaTauri, narrowly ahead of Haas' Mick Schumacher and Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel.

Valtteri Bottas could only manage 14th in the Alfa Romeo as he continues to get up to speed after missing FP1 to due to an engine issue.

Following his crash in FP2, Daniel Ricciardo had a steady session, finishing 16th on the timesheets.

Qualifying in Monaco takes place at 3pm UK time.