MONACO: Charles Leclerc completed a hat-trick of perfect practice runs on Saturday when he topped the times for Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton crashed into the barriers.

Leclerc, who last year became the first Monegasque winner of his home event in the Formula One era, clocked a best lap of one minute and 10.953 seconds — the only driver to dip below one minute and 11 seconds — to beat Max Verstappen by 0.280 seconds.

Ferrari and Leclerc are hoping for a repeat of their emotional 2024 triumph, but their mood was spoiled when the Monegasque’s teammate Hamilton crashed on entry to Casino Square to end the session with a red flag.

He was unhurt, but it was an uncharacteristic setback for the Briton who had looked fast and strong.

Hamilton was running in the turbulent air behind Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes and Esteban Ocon of Haas when he lost downforce and hit the barriers.

Lando Norris was third fastest for McLaren ahead of team-mate and championship leader Oscar Piastri, Hamilton and Williams’ Alex Albon.

Liam Lawson of Racing Bull was an impressive seventh ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second Williams, Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull and Antonelli.

After a slow start the session burst into life by the halfway mark with Hamilton, Norris and Leclerc trading fastest laps before Verstappen took control.

To the delight of the local audience, Leclerc regained top spot in 1:11.179 on his softs and then went even quicker to move two-tenths clear before the session stopped for a red flag when Hamilton smacked the barriers at Massenet, damaging his right front and rear wheels.

He was unhurt and climbed clear.

“Sorry guys, I’ve hit the wall,” said Hamilton, left hoping his car could be repaired in time for qualifying later Saturday.

IMOLA, Italy: Max Verstappen gave his Formula 1 title defense a big boost with victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday after a daring overtake on standings leader Oscar Piastri at the start.

The Dutch driver built a commanding lead which was wiped out when the safety car bundled the field back up. He still held on to win ahead of Lando Norris, who overtook his McLaren teammate Piastri for second with five laps remaining.

Verstappen took his second win of the season, and first since last month’s Japanese Grand Prix, and denied Piastri — who finished third — what would have been his fourth win in a row.

Verstappen praised his Red Bull team’s “fantastic execution all round” as the team marked its 400th F1 race with a win.

“The start itself wasn’t particularly great, but I was still on the outside line, or basically the normal (racing) line, and I was like, ‘Well, I’m just going to try and send it round the outside,’ and it worked really well,” Verstappen said of his crucial overtake. “That, of course, unleashed our pace because once we were in the lead, the car was good.”

Norris’ late-race move on Piastri was almost a copy of Verstappen’s, though Norris had the advantage of being on fresher tires than his teammate.

“We had a good little battle at the end between Oscar and myself, which is always tense, but always good fun,” Norris said, admitting that Verstappen and Red Bull were “too good for us today.”

Piastri’s lead over Norris in the standings was cut to 13 points, with Verstappen nine behind Norris.

Hamilton bounces back

Lewis Hamilton recovered from 12th on the grid to finish fourth in his first race for Ferrari in Italy.

Hamilton profited from a late-race fight between his teammate Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon of Williams.

Albon complained Leclerc had pushed him off the track as they battled for fourth, and Hamilton passed both drivers before Ferrari eventually asked Leclerc to yield fifth to Albon.

George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, ahead of Carlos Sainz, Jr. in the second Williams. Isack Hadjar was ninth for Racing Bulls and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 10th after starting last following a crash in qualifying.

An action-packed ‘farewell’ to Imola

Overtaking was expected to be rare in what could be F1’s last race for the foreseeable future at Imola. Instead, the Italian fans were treated to Verstappen’s spectacular move at the start and plenty of other overtakes.

The narrow, bumpy Imola track has been a favorite among drivers, who have relished its old-school challenge since it returned to the F1 schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, its status as Italy’s second race — only the United States also hosts more than one — makes its position vulnerable.

“If we don’t come back here, it is going to be a shame,” Piastri said Saturday.

Sunday’s race was the last under Imola’s current contract, and while it isn’t officially goodbye yet, there has been no word about next year.