Sergio Perez topped the times for Red Bull in Saturday's third and final practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, narrowly outpacing home hero Charles Leclerc of Ferrari in the final seconds of an intense sunlit session.
Driving with great precision and elan, the Mexican driver clocked a best lap in one minute and 12.476 seconds to outpace his Monegasque rival by 0.041, with Carlos Sainz third in the second Ferrari, three-tenths adift.
World champion and series leader Max Verstappen was a very close fourth in his Red Bull, nearly four-tenths ahead of Pierre Gasly who was a bold fifth for Alpha Tauri.
Perez's success, completed with a series of excellent laps, ended Leclerc's domination of practice at his home event where on Sunday he hopes to banish a 'curse' and finish the race for the first time.