Sebastian Vettel edged Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton during a dry third practice session for the Italian Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s Vettel posted a time of 1:20.509 in cool and cloudy conditions at Monza, with the circuit having dried sufficiently for slicks to be used throughout, following heavy morning rain.
Vettel’s time was just 0.081s quicker than the best achieved by Hamilton, while Kimi Raikkonen made it a Ferrari 1-3 on home ground.
Vettel is chasing Ferrari’s first pole at Monza since 2010 while Hamilton is aiming for his fifth straight pole at the venue.
Valtteri Bottas was half a second behind his Mercedes team-mate in a quiet fourth, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen led the midfield contingent in sixth position, in front of Force India’s Esteban Ocon, while Daniel Ricciardo – set to drop to the back – was eighth.
Charles Leclerc and Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10 for Sauber and Haas respectively, followed by Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Sergey Sirotkin.
Lance Stroll backed up his Williams team-mate in 15th spot while Marcus Ericsson returned to action after his frightening FP2 crash and placed 16th.
McLaren’s subdued period showed no sign of abating as Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne were mired down in 17th and 18th, ahead of only Nico Hulkenberg and Brendon Hartley.
Hulkenberg completed the fewest laps of any driver, with 10, having had to return to the pits when his DRS became stuck open.
