Championship leader Sebastian Vettel topped the final practice session ahead of Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Vettel set a 1m12.395s, which was over three-tenths quicker than Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen who ended the session with the second fastest time.
Valtteri Bottas completed the top three for Mercedes with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in fifth place. Hamilton elected to run on used tyres on his final qualifying simulation run while his rivals used a fresh set of the ultra-soft tyres.
Just over half a second off pacesetter Vettel was Dutchman Max Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo in the sister Red Bull was sixth, nearly a second shy of the German’s time. Ricciardo parked his car at the end of the session after suffering from a sudden brake failure.
Toro Rosso continued their strong showing on Thursday, establishing themselves as the fourth fastest team around the streets of Monaco with Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniil Kvyat in seventh and eighth.
Kevin Magnussen finished the session in ninth, over nine-tenths of a second ahead of Haas team-mate Romain Grosjean who’s braking woes persisted.
Stoffel Vandoorne rounded out the top 10 with Sergio Perez 11th and McLaren team-mate Jenson Button 12th. The British driver will likely start his final Monaco GP from the back of the grid after he received a 15-place grid penalty for MGU-H and turbocharger changes.
Esteban Ocon crashed on the exit of the swimming pool in a similar fashion to Max Verstappen in last year’s grand prix. His stricken Force India heralded the one and only virtual safety car period of the session.
Williams, Renault and Sauber all once again struggled for pace and look the most likely candidates for an early bow in the first part of qualifying.
