George Russell Tops Final Practice for Italian Grand Prix

George Russell laid down an emphatic marker at Monza, topping a frantic final practice for the Italian Grand Prix as Mercedes edged ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull in an hour brimming with incident and needle.

The Briton, already quickest in Friday’s second session, carved his way to a 1m 22.219s as the track rubbered in, finishing two tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton and a further fraction ahead of Max Verstappen. On a circuit Ferrari calls home and Red Bull usually rules, it was the silver car that had the final word before Qualifying.

Slow burn, then chaos

The session crept into life. When the pit lane light flicked green at 1230 local time, only the Audi pair of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg ventured out, circulating almost alone before the Alpines joined in. It felt more like a shakedown than a dress rehearsal.

That calm didn’t last.

Alex Albon’s Williams was rolled back into the garage almost immediately, the Thai driver reporting a steering wheel issue. His car sat half-dismantled as the rest of the field began to feed out, but the team eventually cured the glitch and sent him back into the melee once the circuit grew busier.

Pierre Gasly set the early pace inside the first 15 minutes, banking a benchmark while most of the expected frontrunners stayed parked. Then Ferrari fired up the crowd. Charles Leclerc and Hamilton emerged on soft tyres, the red car and the Mercedes drawing a roar from the Tifosi as they joined the fight.

Antonelli’s statement, penalties or not

On a weekend where he already knows he will start from the back after a grid penalty for a planned engine change, Kimi Antonelli refused to fade into the background. The Mercedes driver punched in a 1m 23.032s to grab top spot, the Italian briefly owning the timesheets at his home race.

His run came just after the first flash of drama. Liam Lawson looped his Red Bull into a spin at the first chicane, triggering yellow flags and complaining about “the rear in low speed” over the radio. Albon, still playing catch-up after his earlier issues, picked up a warning for not following the Race Director’s instructions on the escape road.

At halfway, Antonelli still sat on top, two tenths clear of Leclerc, with Gasly third. The mood elsewhere was less upbeat. Oscar Piastri locked up and skated down an escape road at Turn 1, then cut across the radio with a dry, sarcastic, “great,” as his run unraveled.

Russell turns the screw

Russell then made his first serious move. A 1m 22.697s vaulted him three tenths ahead of team mate Antonelli, though even that lap came with a caveat. He quickly found himself bottled up in traffic and radioed in that there was nothing he could do while stuck in a pack.

The closing quarter of the session turned into a flat-out sprint. With around 15 minutes left, Antonelli, Russell and Verstappen bolted on fresh softs and the timing screens lit up purple and green. Every lap looked like a qualifying simulation; every mistake, a warning for later.

Williams tried something more tactical. Knowing both Albon and Carlos Sainz will start from the back due to engine penalties, they rehearsed the tow, with Albon dragging the Ferrari down the straights in a coordinated slipstream drill. It may pay off in Qualifying, but it also brought scrutiny: both drivers will be investigated after the session for a possible yellow flag infringement.

Verstappen’s patience snapped in the traffic. He complained that a Ferrari was “always in the way” as he tried to thread clean laps through a congested circuit. Russell, too, came under the microscope, noted for potentially impeding Piastri, though the stewards swiftly decided no further investigation was needed.

Old rivalry reignites

Then came the flashpoint everyone noticed.

Hamilton and Verstappen found each other on track and the temperature spiked. Hamilton dived past, the pair then running side-by-side down the pit straight before wrestling for position into Turn 2. It was tense, elbows-out, and instantly evocative of their title battles. Both voiced their displeasure over the radio. The stewards noted the incident but chose not to investigate.

Amid the squabbling and simulations, Russell’s earlier peak lap held firm. No one could dislodge his 1m 22.219s as the chequered flag fell, leaving Mercedes with a one-two on the timesheets and Verstappen watching from third.

Antonelli’s eye-catching pace stood up in fourth, underlining Mercedes’ strength over a single lap. Lando Norris slotted his McLaren into fifth, with Leclerc sixth as Ferrari kept some powder dry in front of their home crowd.

Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad delivered a quietly impressive run to seventh, followed by Piastri, early pacesetter Gasly and the second Alpine of Franco Colapinto, who rounded out the top 10.

Hulkenberg ended the hour in 11th, ahead of Lawson, Bortoleto, Haas rookie Ollie Bearman, and Yuki Tsunoda in the second Racing Bulls. Sainz, wrestling with a compromised weekend due to his penalties, trailed that group, followed by the other Haas of Esteban Ocon and the recovering Albon.

At the back, Aston Martin had a bruising session. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll finished 19th and 22nd, split only by the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

The rehearsal is over. With Russell on a roll, Mercedes humming, Ferrari under pressure at home and Verstappen already bristling in traffic, Qualifying at 1600 local time now carries a sharper edge than Monza has felt in a while.