Saturday’s activity began with the last practice session in Monza and got off to a calm start as the first lap time appeared after six minutes of activity by Kevin Magnussen.
As more drivers headed onto the track, McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes started to top the leaderboard.
While everyone had already stepped on the track, 20 minutes into the session Alex Albon was the only driver in the pits, while even his rookie teammate Franco Colapinto was already setting times.
The provisional fastest time of 1:20.706 set by the Mercedes driver George Russell was bettered by Charles Leclerc by just 92 milliseconds, leading with 1:20.614.
With half an hour remaining and after being the last man to go onto track, Albon was able to displace Leclerc’s time by 0.018 milliseconds.
There were not many problems reported during the session, just some drivers who were unable to keep their car on track and hit the gravel without any major issues. Max Verstappen was the only one to complain about a Mercedes that was going at a slow pace on the usual racing line.
As the end of the session approached, the drivers began to improve their times. Only Leclerc was able to stay in the provisional top 3 with Hamilton and Albon falling further back.
Verstappen and Russell complained about issues with the balance of their cars, but only the Red Bull driver stopped to try to solve the problem.
The session ended with both Mercedes leading the standings followed by Leclerc. Hamilton was able to better his teammate’s time by 0.093s. Additionally, Colapinto finished in P9, beating his position in the two previous practices, and surprising everyone along with teammate Albon who finished in P8.