Leclerc completes sweep of Monaco practice, Hamilton crashes
Charles Leclerc went fastest for Ferrari as teammate Lewis Hamilton crashed in final Monaco Grand Prix practice on Saturday.
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Leclerc, who has taken pole position in three of the last four Monaco Grands Prix and won last year, led both Friday sessions around his home circuit and completed the sweep with a lap of one minute 10.953 seconds.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was second, 0.280 seconds slower but on the medium tyres compared to Leclerc's softs, followed by the McLarens of Lando Norris (+0.294) and Formula One championship leader Oscar Piastri (+0.445).
The full rundown from third practice 👀#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/jtmRLkyKgX
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 24, 2025
Australian Piastri leads Norris by 13 points after seven of 24 races.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton was fifth fastest but hit the wall on the approach to Casino Square, after coming up fast behind traffic, with two minutes remaining and the session then red-flagged.
"Damn, hit the wall. Sorry guys," said the three-time Monaco winner over the radio.
The car was missing a front-right tyre, and had the wrap from an advertising hoarding wrapped around the right rear, with Ferrari mechanics facing a race against the clock to fix the damage before qualifying.
Liam Lawson was seventh for Racing Bulls ahead of Williams's Carlos Sainz, Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda and Mercedes's Kimi Antonelli.
Next up, qualifying 🤩
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 24, 2025
Session starts 16:00 local time ⏰#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/BaUPY0Embk
Qualifying was due to start at 1400 GMT, with pole crucial at a circuit where overtaking has been extremely difficult and an extra, second mandatory stop has been introduced this year.
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