» Monaco GP: Rosberg fastest in final session

Nico Rosberg has narrowly emerged as the fastest driver in a closely-fought final practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, with the Mercedes driver just edging out Sebastian Vettel and the Ferrari pairing of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso for top spot. The top-four were covered by just five-hundredths of a second.

The session was red-flagged in the closing minutes after a contentious incident between Sergio Pérez and Pastor Maldonado, which led to the latter crashing out of the session less than a lap later.

Maldonado chopped across the bows of the Mexican at the pair disputed track position at Portier, and just a lap later it was Maldonado who crashed after clipping the inside wall at Casino Square. The winner of the last Grand Prix in Spain bounced across to the outside barrier, plucking his left-rear wheel off his Williams FW34. His team has a mountain of repairwork to complete ahead of today’s qualifying session, while many tip he will be summoned to the FIA Stewards’ office to explain himself.

Just minutes before, fans saw Paul di Resta’s Force India limping to the pits with a damaged front end after the Scot lost his car under braking for the Nouvelle Chicane.

Up at the sharp end of the field, it was Rosberg who would emerge on top, narrowly edging out an impressive Felipe Massa, who finished the session in the giddy heights of second-fastest on the timesheets.

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso both clocked late efforts to move into third and fourth place respectively.

Romain Grosjean – tipped by many as the most likely to claim pole and the win here – finished up fifth-quickest in his Lotus, finishing ahead of the McLaren pairing of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, neither of whom was able to execute a traffic-free lap in the session.

Michael Schumacher finished the session eighth-fastest, and he’ll be looking for a strong qualifying effort in light of the five-place grid penalty he’s carrying for his collision with Bruno Senna at the Spanish Grand Prix, while Pérez and Mark Webber (unable to have a clean lap) round out the top ten.

Kimi Räikkönen – deprived of much practice running so far this weekend – finished up twelfth-fastest in the second Lotus F1 entry.

This afternoon’s qualifying session looks set to be an intensely-fought affair with a number of possible candidates challenging for top honours. And although the weather remained dry for the morning’s running, there is still the possibility of rain this afternoon, which could really spice things up. Expect a few surprise results…

2012 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG F1 W03	1:15.159		13
2.	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari F2012	1:15.197	+ 0.038	21
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault RB8	1:15.209	+ 0.050	20
4.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F2012	1:15.210	+ 0.051	20
5.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Renault E20	1:15.445	+ 0.286	18
6.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-27	1:15.471	+ 0.312	19
7.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes MP4-27	1:15.734	+ 0.575	19
8.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes AMG F1 W03	1:15.893	+ 0.734	23
9.	Sergio Pérez	Sauber Ferrari C31	1:16.110	+ 0.951	14
10.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing Renault RB8	1:16.219	+ 1.060	19
11.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7	1:16.226	+ 1.067	20
12.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1 Renault E20	1:16.301	+ 1.142	21
13.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari C31	1:16.311	+ 1.152	19
14.	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7	1:16.479	+ 1.320	20
15.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India Mercedes VJM05	1:17.027	+ 1.868	20
16.	Bruno Senna	Williams Renault FW34	1:17.055	+ 1.896	26
17.	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham Renault CT01	1:17.276	+ 2.117	25
18.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM05	1:17.390	+ 2.231	19
19.	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham Renault CT01	1:17.404	+ 2.245	22
20.	Timo Glock	Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01	1:18.259	+ 3.100	18
21.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Renault FW34	1:18.488	+ 3.329	22
22.	Charles Pic	Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01	1:19.099	+ 3.940	17
23.	Narain Karthikeyan	HRTF1 Cosworth F112	1:19.147	+ 3.988	19
24.	Pedro de la Rosa	HRTF1 Cosworth F112	1:19.151	+ 3.992	19