Thursday 6 December 2018 10:52, UK
Sebastian Vettel stayed on top of the Monza timesheet in Practice Three - but only just from title rival Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari and Mercedes upped the pace significantly from Friday to post the quickest times at F1's fastest venue for over a decade, with Vettel maintaining his Day One timesheet advantage with the best time of 1:20.509.
But, encouragingly for Mercedes, Hamilton closed their deficit to under a tenth of a second late in the session as he split Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen to take second place.
"That's what Hamilton needs to do," said Sky F1's David Croft. "If he can't get pole today, he needs to get amongst the Ferraris."
The top three were well clear of the rest on the timesheet, with Valtteri Bottas an unusually-large 0.6s off the pace in the second Mercedes and only two tenths ahead of Max Verstappen in the Red Bull-Renault.
"It looks like a three-way battle for pole. It doesn't look like Valtteri Bottas quite has the speed at the moment," predicted Paul di Resta.
Kevin Magnussen moved Ferrari-powered Haas ahead of the Mercedes-engined Force India, but was only a tenth clear of Esteban Ocon in what looks set to prove a tight qualifying battle between the two teams. Respective team-mates Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez, who damaged his car over the chicane, were also in the top 11.
With engine penalties sending him to the back of the grid, Daniel Ricciardo appeared to focus on race-specific work and finished only eighth, 1.8s off the pace. That was also the case for 2019 team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, who was down in 19th for Renault.
Meanwhile, McLaren look set for another battle to avoid a Q1 exit as Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne finished only 17th and 18th respectively despite once again attempting the 'tow' to boost straight-line speed.
Marcus Ericsson returned to action in 17th place after feeling no ill-effects from his horrifying accident on Friday, although the Swede lapped half a second slower than team-mate Charles Leclerc who was again up in the top 10.
