» Hamilton quickest in damp final session

Lewis Hamilton has completed an Italian Grand Prix clean sweep in Saturday’s final practice sessions at the Autodromo Monza, following his session-topping efforts in Friday’s first and second sessions.

The final one-hour practice session saw the track still damp after earlier rain showers, which ultimately created a rather mixed up timesheet and little indication as to a real form guide for Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session.

Rather than leading another Mercedes 1-2 as was the case in Friday, the Silver Arrows were split by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who lapped just over a quarter of a second shy of Hamilton’s session-topping time of 1:24.544.

The start of the session saw few tentative wet tyre runs until the track surface had dried sufficiently to switch to dry-weather tyres. Hamilton moved to the top with a run on Pirelli’s Soft tyres, although the time was three-tenths slower than what he managed in Friday’s second practice session.

Rosberg slotted into third place, three-hundredths of a second behind Vettel, and ahead of the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

Pastor Maldonado was sixth-fastest in the Lotus, bumping the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen down to seventh place.

Force India had a comparatively quieter session, with Sergio Pérez eighth-fastest and Nico Hülkenberg half-a-second further behind in twelfth place. The pair sandwiched the two Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr, along with the second Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

The two McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were next up, although the latter struggled through the session with brake lock-ups.

Will Stevens took his Manor Marussia to the rather giddy heights of fifteenth in the mixed conditions, although he was flattered by slow times for the Toro Rosso and Red Bull runners, who didn’t bother attempting qualifying simulation runs given they will take hefty grid penalties into the race.

Max Verstappen, Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr finished behind the Englishman, with his teammate Roberto Merhi finishing ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who brought up the rear of the field after stopping with a suspected engine problem.

Saturday’s qualifying session at Monza begins at 14:00 local time (GMT +2).

Formula 1 Gran Premio D’Italia 2015 – Free Practice 3 Results
Pos	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid	1:24.544		18
2.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T	1:24.808	+ 0.264	12
3.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid	1:24.843	+ 0.299	19
4.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37	1:24.946	+ 0.402	14
5.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37	1:25.165	+ 0.621	14
6.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid	1:25.242	+ 0.698	11
7.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T	1:25.244	+ 0.700	13
8.	Sergio Pérez	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B	1:25.515	+ 0.971	14
9.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34	1:25.692	+ 1.148	17
10.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid	1:25.747	+ 1.203	8
11.	Felipe Nasr	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34	1:25.912	+ 1.368	17
12.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B	1:26.141	+ 1.597	13
13.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda MP4-30	1:26.632	+ 2.088	9
14.	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda MP4-30	1:26.750	+ 2.206	14
15.	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B	1:28.123	+ 3.579	13
16.	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10	1:28.215	+ 3.671	25
17.	Daniil Kvyat	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11	1:28.591	+ 4.047	10
18.	Carlos Sainz	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10	1:28.628	+ 4.084	23
19.	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B	1:29.117	+ 4.573	11
20.	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11	1:29.900	+ 5.356	7