Max fourth in final free practice for Italian GP
Published on 06 September 2025 by Kees-Jan Koster
Max Verstappen finished fourth in the third and final practice session ahead of the Italian Grand Prix. The reigning world champion completed the entire session on soft tyres and stayed close to the McLarens. Lando Norris ended the session fastest, but was only 0.167 seconds ahead of Max.
At 12:30 local time, the lights went green for the start of FP3. Under the sunny skies of Monza, the session began quietly, as is tradition. Max opted to head out after the first fifteen minutes. By that time, his Oracle Red Bull Racing team-mate Yuki Tsunoda had already put in some laps. Running on hard tyres, Tsunoda set the early benchmark with a 1:20.7. Max began his run on softs and immediately topped the timesheets with a lap of 1:20.040, purple in sectors two and three. In the early stages, only the Ferraris came close, Charles Leclerc lapped within 0.014 seconds of Max’s time, though on medium tyres.
Max’s second run, again on softs, improved his time to a 1:19.6, making him the first of the front-runners to use the red-marked tyres. His pace looked solid, George Russell (Mercedes), on his first soft-tyre run, was nearly six tenths slower. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri delayed their switch to softs, starting instead on hards. That left Piastri ninth and Norris sixteenth initially. With just over twenty minutes to go, the reigning champion led the session, followed by Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Alexander Albon, and George Russell.
As usual, the final phase of practice focused on qualifying simulations. Alex Albon was the first to bolt on a fresh set of softs, moving up to third, less than three tenths behind Max. The McLarens then lit up the timesheets: Norris went quickest with a 1:19.3, two tenths faster than team-mate Piastri. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) also impressed on softs, just 0.025s shy of Piastri, good enough for third at the time.
With ten minutes remaining, Max returned to the track on another set of softs. Despite not improving in sector two, he jumped to second place, just 0.182s behind Norris. Soon after, championship leader Piastri nudged ahead by 0.017s, dropping Max to third. The Ferraris saved their soft tyre runs for last but underwhelmed, Hamilton managing only sixth and Leclerc ninth. As the chequered flag fell, Max found more time but not enough to improve his position. Leclerc’s strong late run lifted him to second, meaning Norris finished FP3 fastest, ahead of the Monegasque, Piastri, and Max.
Contest GP Italy: win a by Max Verstappen signed Red Bull Racing cap!
Results third free practice Italy: