[caption id="attachment_2905" align="alignright" width="300"] File photo of Hamilton with fans. An FIA image[/caption]

Monaco, 24 May 2014: Championship leader Hamilton just five hundredths of a second clear of Red Bull Racing leader. Ricciardo came second and Rosberg third after the final practice session before the qualifying session in the evening.

Lewis Hamilton finished the final practice session ahead of Monaco’s crucial qualifying session at the top of the timesheet, but only by five hundredths of a second.

With Mercedes’ performance advantage somewhat blunted by the twisting streets of the Principality, Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo split the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who ended the session a tenth behind his team-mate.

Rosberg had run quickest in the earlier part of the session, when the teams ran with Pirelli’s Soft tyre, but when the switch was made to the option Supersoft in the closing stages of the session, the championship leader edged ahead of the German once more.

Although defending champion Sebastian Vettel logged the quickest second sector time on the Supersoft, the Red Bull Racing couldn’t match the pace at the start and end of his laps on the option tyre and finished fourth, four tenths of a second behind Hamilton. He, along with others, was often frustrated by traffic during the session and was seen waving his fist angrily at Williams’ Felipe Massa as the driver set about their qualifying simulations on the packed track.

Behind Vettel the Fernando Alonos and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth quickest respectively and the Ferrari pairing were separated by just two hundredths of a second.

They were backed up by the Force India machines of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, who finished just five hundredths of a second apart, and the Toro Rossos of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat, with the Frenchman beating out the Russian by just under a tenth of a second.

2014 Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Times

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.758

2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:16.808 0.050

3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:16.874 0.116

4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:17.184 0.426

5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:17.428 0.670

6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:17.448 0.690

7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:17.725 0.967

8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:18.074 1.316

9 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:18.136 1.378

10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:18.166 1.408

11 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:18.249 1.491

12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:18.262 1.504

13 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:18.430 1.672

14 Felipe Massa Williams 1:18.542 1.784

15 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:18.598 1.840

16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:18.776 2.018

17 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:18.872 2.114

18 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:19.118 2.360

19 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:19.149 2.391

20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:20.271 3.513

21 Max Chilton Marussia 1:20.394 3.636

22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:20.589 3.831

eom/FIA press release