2020 Grand Prix FP3 report and highlights of Italy: Bottas leads McLarens Sainz and Norris, while Ricciardo falls by the wayside in third practice session at Monza

Valtteri Bottas completed a third session full of slipstreaming action ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, while Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo fell on the track with a mechanical problem shortly after the fourth fastest time.

Bottas and Sainz separated by 0.229 seconds when the Finn increased the track limits to the maximum in a spectacularly fast lap for Mercedes, while Sainz took second place after a red flag time in which Ricciardo was forced to drive past the roadside The team said it was a suspected failure of the fuel pump on their Renault.

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The Australian already has a new engine for this weekend and his session ended in disappointment. 10 minutes before the end, he crawled to a stand after the Della Roggia chicane and sparked fears about his participation in qualifying, which takes place only two hours after the third RP. Although the team was confident their RS20 would be ready for the all-important meeting this afternoon.

Lando Norris was one place ahead of Ricciardo, while Lewis Hamilton rounded off the top five for Mercedes, 0.350 seconds behind. Max Verstappen finished sixth for Red Bull – as the only driver who completed a fastest lap with medium tires in the session.

Hamilton’s session nearly ended in tears as he dodged the slow traffic approaching the Parabolica at a speed of nearly 200 miles per hour, in a heartbeat moment.

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Alex Albon finished seventh behind his Red Bull team-mate on Softs, Eultban Ocon from Renault eighth. The Racing Points were ninth and tenth ahead of last year’s Italian GP winner Charles Leclerc.

The AlphaTauris in positions 12 and 13 were the last drivers within a second of P1 – Daniil Kvyat in front of Pierre Gasly – when Romain Grosjean from Haas Ferrari beat Sebasitan Vettel in 14th place.

Kevin Magnussen was 16th for Haas, just behind Vettel, while Kimi Raikkonen was 17th for Alfa Romeo.

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The two Williams drivers were led by George Russell in 18th and his team-mate Nicholas Latifi in 19th when Antonio Giovinazzi rounded off the overall standings for Alfa Romeo two seconds before the top spot.

With special qualifying engine modes now banned for qualifying this afternoon and a minimum time delta to avoid Lewis Hamilton predicting a “nightmare scenario” for heavy Monza traffic when drivers are looking for tow, we’re on our way Captivating target set shootout for the pole at 1500 local time.

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