Monaco GP: Ricciardo quickest in FP3 as Verstappen shunts

After enjoying a one-two in FP1 and FP2 on Thursday, Red Bull continued its fine form on the streets of Monte Carlo, with Verstappen initially turning the tables on Ricciardo.

Verstappen set two times good enough for top spot as Thursday pacesetter Ricciardo lapped just over a tenth slower than the Dutchman.

However, when Verstappen emerged for a late run on fresh hypersofts he crashed exiting the Swimming Pool section on his first flying lap.

Verstappen had a small wobble after clearing the Renault of Carlos Sainz approaching the right-left chicane, then clipped the inside wall as he turned in.

That broke the right front steering and sent Verstappen across the chicane's run-off and into the wall heavily on the right-hand side.

It was an almost identical crash to one Verstappen suffered two years ago, and gives Red Bull significant work to do to get the car ready for qualifying.

The session was red-flagged before resuming with three minutes remaining, and Ricciardo took full advantage to improve to a 1m11.786s, just one-thousandth of a second faster than Verstappen.

Sebastian Vettel headed Ferrari's charge two tenths back in third, with Lewis Hamilton best of the Mercedes drivers in fifth.

Kimi Raikkonen slipped in between the title rivals, a tenth back from his teammate after a lap that looked very strong before fading in the final sequence of corners.

Valtteri Bottas struggled initially in the second Mercedes, which required a rear wing change after the Finn clobbered the barrier in the Ste Devote run-off after attempting a quick U-turn having run straight on.

He did jump up the order with 20 minutes remaining by getting ahead of Hamilton into fifth on a 1m12.356s.

Hamilton then hit back with a time less than a tenth faster despite encountering a Williams just as he approached the final corner.

Brendon Hartley took best-of-the-rest honours in seventh behind the big three teams for Toro Rosso ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly.

Sainz, who also took to the Turn 1 escape road during the session but rejoined without damaging his car, and Williams rookie Sergey Sirotkin completed the top 10.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	23	1'11.786
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	14	1'11.787	0.001
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	23	1'12.023	0.237
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	26	1'12.142	0.356
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	26	1'12.273	0.487
6	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	27	1'12.356	0.570
7	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	Honda	25	1'12.752	0.966
8	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	Honda	23	1'12.761	0.975
9	Carlos Sainz	Renault	Renault	24	1'12.850	1.064
10	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	Mercedes	23	1'12.854	1.068
11	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Renault	25	1'12.874	1.088
12	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	23	1'12.940	1.154
13	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	22	1'13.025	1.239
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	26	1'13.112	1.326
15	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Renault	25	1'13.279	1.493
16	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	26	1'13.595	1.809
17	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	Ferrari	25	1'13.644	1.858
18	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	21	1'13.881	2.095
19	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	20	1'14.192	2.406
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	28	1'14.221	2.435