Red Bull driver Max Verstappen's season just got grimmer after he crashed heavily in the final minutes of the third free practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, at that point he was fastest of all but in his final flyer teammate, Daniel Ricciardo popped the best lap ever around the seaside street circuit.
After watching replays of his teammate's crash, Ricciardo returned for his final run which in the end was a thousandth of a second quicker than Verstappen who he bumped off the top spot on the timing screens - the lap time of 1:11.786 was the best ever around the seaside circuit.
On the run through the swimming pool complex, the young Dutchman rounded the dawdling Renault of Carlos Sainz, turned a little too early into Turn 15, clipped the barrier with his right front wheel which was instantly damaged, thereafter he was a passenger as the car speared into the barriers on the exit of Turn 16.
A carbon copy of his crash during his 2016 Monte-Carlo weekend:
https://www.grandprix247.com/2016/05/28/verstappen-i-turned-in-too-early-and-it-all-went-wrong/
On free practice form Red Bull are clear favourites, a front row lock-out the clear objective until Verstappen changed the script by giving his team a ton of work to do and compromising himself even before qualifying begins.
Ricciardo, on the other hand, will believe pole is his for the taking and an important one it will be around the tight confines of the principality.
Almost a quarter of a second slower than the best time was Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari, who was a tenth up on his teammate Kimi Raikkonen suggesting that the Reds may have a handy car when they dial it up to the max in Q3.
Lewis Hamilton in fifth was the quicker of the Mercedes drivers, four-tenths down on Ricciardo and a tenth up on teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Toro Rosso stunned the paddock by ending the one-hour session Best of the Rest, Brendon Hartley in seventh and Pierre Gasly eighth - a hundredth of a second separating the pair.
Carlos Sainz was ninth fastest in the Renault, with Williams rookie Sergey Sirotkin impressing with the tenth best time while more experienced Lance Stroll was only good for 16th, seven-tenths adrift if his teammate.
Both McLarens were out of the top ten, with Stoffel Vandoorne 11th and Fernando Alonso 15th.
The Haas appears unsuited to Monaco, with both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean struggling with setup and only faster than Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber who was slowest of all.
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