Valtteri Bottas yesterday topped the times for Mercedes ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz after championship leader Lewis Hamilton was forced to swerve off the track to avoid a collision in the final free practice for today’s Italian Grand Prix.
The Finn, determined to claim a front row start and boost his title challenge, clocked a best lap in 1 minute, 20.089 seconds before a late interruption, when the action was paused by red flags after Daniel Ricciardo parked his spluttering Renault with suspected electrical problems.
Bottas’ best lap left him two-10ths clear of Sainz, who squeezed in a dazzling lap with seconds remaining after the late restart, with Lando Norris third in the second McLaren, three-10ths adrift.
Photo: AFP
Ricciardo was fourth ahead of Hamilton, in the second Mercedes, the six-time champion having been forced to take dramatic avoiding action at about 300kph when he approached two slow cars running side by side at the approach to the Parabolica.
It appeared that one of the Haas cars had moved into the center of the track ahead of Hamilton, forcing him to flick his car to the right and run partly across the grass as his flying lap was ruined in the most dangerous way.
Hamilton set a best lap in 1:20.658, half-a-second slower than his fastest on Friday.
Behind Hamilton, Max Verstappen was sixth ahead of his Red Bull teammate Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon in the second Renault, Lance Stroll and his Racing Points teammate Sergio Perez.
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc, who last year won from the pole position, and his departing teammate, four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, were 11th and 15th.
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