With just one hour left before qualifying, the final practice session in Monaco got underway. Liam Lawson and Lewis Hamilton were the first to queue at the end of the pit lan. The first 10 minutes were quiet, with only five drivers setting times.

Soon, the Ferrari and McLaren drivers joined the action, all heading out on soft tyres. Hamilton went fastest, followed by Lando Norris, then Charles Leclerc who set a strong 1:12.7. The two Mercedes drivers and Fernando Alonso waited until nearly 20 minutes into the session to leave the pits.

With all 20 drivers eventually on track, traffic quickly became a problem. Hamilton got in Sainz’s way, Colapinto slowed down Piastri, and Yuki Tsunoda was investigated, but later cleared, for impeding Isack Hadjar in the tunnel. Meanwhile, Gabriel Bortoleto asked Sauber to check his car after he hit the wall, but continued on.

Colapinto caused more drama by moving in front of Oliver Bearman while slowly driving on the racing line, seemingly after checking his mirrors. Verstappen, who had struggled with understeer on Friday, managed to go faster than Leclerc as Tsunoda jumped into the top six behind Alex Albon.

Late in the session, Verstappen switched to soft tyres and started strongly with a purple first sector, but then slid wide at Turn 8 and again at the final corner. On his next lap, he complained of low grip and couldn’t improve on his earlier time set on medium tyres. Hamilton found a bit more time but stayed fifth, and Sainz moved up to sixth.

The session ended two minutes early when Hamilton crashed at Massenet, damaging the front-right of his Ferrari and bringing out the red flag.

In the final classification, it was Charles Leclerc who led the way, delighting the home crowd once again. Max Verstappen finished second, just under three tenths behind. Lando Norris showed strong pace in third, narrowly ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in fourth.

Despite his late crash, Lewis Hamilton held onto fifth place. Alexander Albon impressed once again by putting his Williams in sixth, followed by Liam Lawson in seventh for Racing Bulls. Carlos Sainz made it into eighth, while Yuki Tsunoda finished ninth. Completing the top ten was Kimi Antonelli.