Monaco – Free Practice 3: Sebastian Vettel on top, Mercedes-Ferrari battle for pole?

The 20 drivers on the grid are returning to their respective cars this Saturday morning after a day off on Friday. It’s time for the third and final Free Practice session. This session is crucial; the drivers need to optimize their setups as much as possible in preparation for the Qualifying sessions, which are extremely important here in Monaco.

On the weather side, the Principality woke up under a cloudy but dry sky: the temperature is 19 degrees in the air and 24 degrees on the track.

Sergio Perez is the first driver to hit the track: he sets the very first time of the day at 1:21.129.

At Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have chosen to do their first run on Super Soft tires: the majority of the other drivers are running on Soft tires. Grip is still difficult: the drivers need to find their footing on a track that has changed significantly since Thursday afternoon.

Hamilton is the first to go under the 1:17 mark with a time of 1:16.705, while Nico Rosberg has so far been noticeably slower than his teammate. The Englishman is conducting a start-of-Grand Prix simulation. Tire degradation is very low.

After 15 minutes of the session, the two drivers are in a league of their own: third-placed Daniil Kvyat is nearly 2 seconds behind. Kimi Räikkönen in his Ferrari is the last driver to hit the track: he takes the provisional third time at 1″387.

The second team to fit the red-banded tires is McLaren-Honda. Räikkönen also switches to the softest range of tires, as do the Lotus cars of Grosjean and Maldonado.

The first major mistake of the session was made by the Finn from Ferrari: “Iceman” hit hard at Sainte-Dévote. The Red Flag is waved: the session is interrupted for a few minutes!

At the time of the interruption, the Top 5 of the session is as follows: Lewis Hamilton still has the reference time at 1:16.705, leading by more than 0.5 seconds over Nico Rosberg. Kimi Räikkönen, now stopped, is 3rd nearly 0.7 seconds behind the 2014 World Champion; followed by Fernando Alonso in his McLaren-Honda and Nico Hülkenberg in his Force India. Sebastian Vettel is 9th, just ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.

After a 5-minute stop, the green flag is waved: the drivers can return to the track. The Mercedes drivers are now on Soft Tires. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel sets a very interesting time: he is within two-tenths of Hamilton’s mark.

High-profile on Thursday during Free Practice, Max Verstappen had a big scare: he hit the wall after losing the rear of his car in the final corner. The young Dutchman complained over the radio about a damaged rear wing; he is currently 6th, just behind the sister car of Daniel Ricciardo.

After 45 minutes of the session, the Top 5 is now as follows: Hamilton leads Vettel, Rosberg, Räikkönen, and Ricciardo. Romain Grosjean has climbed to 7th place. Fernando Alonso is 10th. Very disappointing positions so far for the Williams drivers: Massa is 13th while Bottas is 17th. It should be noted, however, that the British team is primarily focusing on race setup at the expense of pure performance.

On the side of the pits, the question is asked: Will Kimi Räikkönen be able to participate in this afternoon’s qualifying session? The answer seems positive: the 2007 World Champion is losing precious track time due to this accident. Max Verstappen is also immobilized in his garage: the Toro Rosso mechanics are carrying out the necessary repairs on the rear of the car.

We have entered the last 10 minutes of the session: Nico Rosberg is closing in on the lead, just 0.065 seconds off Hamilton. Daniel Ricciardo must also be satisfied with his times: his best time places him at 0.415 seconds.

But the best time of the day can still be improved by Lewis Hamilton: he puts on a new set of Super-Softs. He is followed by Rosberg and Vettel. The time is provisionally improved by Sebastian Vettel to 1:16.143. Nico Rosberg also improves, but is 0.218 seconds behind the Ferrari. Hamilton is unable to improve: caught in traffic, he doesn’t go all out. He seems quite annoyed with the behavior of his car over the radio.

The checkered flag is waved: this is the very last practice lap for the drivers. At the top, the hierarchy does not change: Sebastian Vettel finishes this third and final Free Practice session in the lead. With a time of 1:16:143, he leads, unusually, the two Mercedes, Rosberg ahead of Hamilton.

Here is the complete ranking of this session: