Red Bull driver Max Verstappen set the pace in Saturday’s third and final practice session for the Italian Grand Prix, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and team mate Sergio Perez to top spot around the Monza circuit.

Verstappen posted a time of 1m 21.252s on soft tyres to beat Leclerc by a margin of 0.347s – the Monegasque’s first run on the red-marked tyre compromised by a mistake at the Variante della Roggia chicane – with Perez two-and-a-half tenths further back.

Verstappen was also the quickest driver on the medium-shod runs – his early benchmark keeping him in the mix with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz even after the Ferraris had switched to softs.

Sainz was next up in the other Ferrari – half a tenth away from Perez – with Fernando Alonso the ‘best of the rest’ for Alpine in fifth and in prime position to benefit from the various penalties.

McLaren’s Lando Norris remained at the sharp-end in sixth, with Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton seventh and 10th respectively – sandwiching AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon (the latter joining the penalty list with an engine change).