Monaco GP, Practice Three: Max Verstappen crashes as Daniel Ricciardo leads Red Bull one-two
Ricciardo sets lap record of 1:11.786; Verstappen second but hits wall in closing stages; Vettel two tenths off in third; Mercedes half a second off pace
Tuesday 11 December 2018 12:12, UK
Daniel Ricciardo set his third lap record to lead another Red Bull one-two at the Monaco GP, but Max Verstappen crashed out of Practice Three late on.
Ricciardo had already set new records on his way to topping both Thursday practice sessions, and posted a 1:11.786 in the final two minutes of the session to pip his team-mate by just one thousandth of a second.
But Verstappen smashed into the wall on the exit of the swimming pool chicane - his fifth crash in Monaco in four years - and Red Bull face a hefty repair job ahead of Qualifying.
The Dutchman had come up behind Nico Hulkenberg's Renault on a flying lap and got caught out of position, clipping the wall on the way into the corner and flying across the kerbs into the barriers.
"That was a big, big set-back. He was on course for the Monaco race win, he was quicker than Daniel and really on it out there and shunts it big time into the wall," 2016 world champion and Sky Sports F1 expert Nico Rosberg said.
"It's always risky in Monaco but to get the win that's what you have to avoid. Now there are questions if they can get the car ready, is the chassis ok? What has it done to his confidence? It's mentally so damn hard and it's such a big blow.
"Max is always tending towards overconfidence and taking too many risks, and this is the place that bites you most."
No other drivers could dip below the 1:12 barrier, with Sebastian Vettel third in the Ferrari with a 1:12.023, a tenth ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Reigning world champions Mercedes could get nowhere near the pace of the Red Bulls. Lewis Hamilton was fifth but nearly half a second off Verstappen's benchmark, while Valtteri Bottas was a further tenth back in sixth.
Bottas had an embarrassing moment early in the session when he hit the barriers at St Devote attempting to spin and rejoin the track after locking up and running wide, the damage requiring a change of rear wing.
Brendon Hartley, under a bit of pressure after a difficult beginning of the season, continued his fine start to the weekend as he was 'best of the rest' in the Toro Rosso, and finished ahead of team-mate Pierre Gasly.
Carlos Sainz was ninth in the Renault while Sergey Sirotkin did an impressive job to drag the Williams into the top 10, lapping seven tenths quicker than team-mate Lance Stroll in 16th.
Stoffel Vandoorne was 11th as he out-performed McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso for the second successive session, the two-time world champion having to settle for 15th.
Haas endured another difficult session with Romain Grosjean 18th and Kevin Magnussen 19th, the pair between the two Sauber drivers.
