Sainz threatens Verstappen as traffic plays its part in final practice

Carlos Sainz continued Ferrari's fine home race form with the fastest time in final practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard pipped Red Bull's Max Verstappen for the second session in a row, a 1:20.912 setting a benchmark just 0.086secs faster than the championship leader.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was third fastest to provide promise of a Mercedes resurgence after a self-proclaimed "messy" first day of running at Monza as all eyes now turn towards qualifying.

FIA Race Director Niels Wittich updated his event-specific briefing notes to impose a minimum lap time in order to try and stop the traffic issues that cropped up in Friday practice.

But this didn't stop Sainz from getting in the way of Yuki Tsunoda - the AlphaTauri driver fuming over team radio: "What the f**k is Sainz doing".

Lando Norris was another to slate a rival after a near miss with Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu between the two Lesmos.

The McLaren driver questioned "why are people so stupid?" before the Chinese was shown the black and white flag for driving standards.

In a relatively undramatic session, Sainz finished fastest for the second time this weekend, finishing ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton - the seven-time champion conceding: "I don't know how to find half a second."

Fernando Alonso was eight-tenths down on the Spaniard for Aston Martin in fifth, behind Charles Leclerc and ahead of the second Mercedes of George Russell.

Kevin Magnussen set a stunning lap for Haas to finish seventh fastest, the Dane ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg and the Williams of Alex Albon, who set his best time on a set of Hard tyres.

Sergio Perez was 10th fastest but missed out on the best of the track conditions as Red Bull worked feverishly to address an oil leak near the power unit.

Lance Stroll was next on the timesheets for Aston Martin, ahead of the AlphaTauri duo led by Liam Lawson.

Oscar Piastri endured a difficult session for McLaren having taken a trip through the gravel at the Della Roggia before going straight on at the Rettifilo.

The Australian made contact with Sainz at Turn 1, asking whether he was "blind" before a black and white flag was shown.

Logan Sargeant was 15th, Valtteri Bottas 16th and Norris 17th, with Esteban Ocon, Zhou and Pierre Gasly rounding out the times.