Overview
- George Russell set the fastest lap in third practice at Monza with a 1:22.219, putting Mercedes ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the session that served as qualifying preparation.
- Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen engaged in a heated towing duel at the end of FP3 that almost produced contact, and the stewards declined to open an investigation into that specific incident.
- Mercedes announced a power‑unit change for championship leader Kimi Antonelli, a tactical move that will trigger a grid penalty and consign him to the back of the starting order for Sunday’s race.
- Teams used slipstream and wind‑shadow tactics across the session, with Mercedes running planned tow work for Russell and an earlier impeding report against him closed without further action.
- Stewards are separately examining possible failures to slow for yellow flags involving Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon, qualifying is scheduled for 16:00 local time and those inquiries could affect starting positions.