Alonso sets pace in qualifying

MONACO — Fernando Alonso gave Ferrari another boost when he posted the fastest time in Saturday's third practice session at the Monaco Grand Prix, with championship leader Sebastian Vettel fourth best for Red Bull.

Ferrari has been lagging behind Red Bull all season, but this race weekend is the first time it has been faster in practice.

Two-time former F1 champion Alonso was quicker than Vettel in Thursday's second practice, and the Spaniard again made the most of the supersoft optional tires to record a best lap time of 1 minute, 14.433 seconds in the third practice.

McLaren's Jenson Button was second quickest in 1:14.996, while Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa was third in 1:15.024.

Defending champion Vettel clocked 1:15.245, but the German ran on prime soft tires.

Vettel will look to power his Red Bull to a fifth pole position of the season in qualifying later Saturday.

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