Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Max Verstappen reveals his claws, Ferrari lurking

Opening of session

The Monaco track was wet from Friday night to Saturday. The cars were able to take advantage of a track dried by the Formula 2 and Alpine Formula races.

The track turned out to be rather cool, just like in the air: the clouds entirely dominate the sky of the Principality.

The two Alfa Romeo were the first ones to take to the track, directly on soft tires with red sidewalls. The first reference was set by Kimi Räikkönen in 1:14:293, a relatively calm pace.

Ferrari dropped Charles Leclerc after 9 minutes of waiting since the start of the session. Carlos Sainz then took the lead of the session in 1:13:300. Ferraris were very comfortable, as evidenced by Leclerc who clocked a 1:12:633, only one second behind the benchmark set in FP2. The pack was unleashed!

Start of attack rounds

The two Ferraris, after about a quarter of an hour of the session, did not rest and exchanged the lead of the rankings. Leclerc took the lead in 1:12:223, a substantial improvement for number 16 which eventually lowered the mark to 1:11:658. The Ferrari

The Mercedes stayed in the garage, leaving it to the other drivers to clean the track and provide more and more grip, before coming out with 43 minutes left in the session.

On the Red Bull side, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been relatively quiet, but have chosen to ride on yellow medium tires. The Mexican driver kept a fairly significant distance from the Leclercs, 7 tenths of a second behind.

Max Verstappen eventually switched to the soft tires and positioned himself within one-tenth of the first Ferrari, with 22 minutes of the session completed.

The Dutchman was able to find something with the red tires: best time in 1:11:485! However, the Red Bulls experienced some difficulties with the softest Pirelli tires in the range.

The Mercedes cars were rather discreet: with 34 minutes to go, Lewis Hamilton was in 4th place, more than half a second behind Verstappen. Bottas finished 7th, almost nine tenths off the best time.

Carlos Sainz pulled out a lap in 1:11:452, passing Verstappen by 33 thousandths – quite a symbol, isn’t it?

The representatives of France are in a bit of trouble: Pierre Gasly was in a discreet 9th place, more than a second behind, while Esteban Ocon did not find much performance. The Normand of Alpine could not do better than 17th, while his teammate Fernando Alonso achieved the 14th time.

A little scare at the exit of Rascasse: former teammates Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris narrowly avoided a collision. The Ferrari tried to move aside to let the McLaren pass, but the British driver had to brake suddenly to avoid hitting the diffuser of the Spaniard!

Tire changes and end of session

The spirits calmed down while changing the tires. A large majority of the grid chose to finish the preparation for qualifying on soft tires.

Notable performance from Nikita Mazepin at Haas: the Russian was in 15th place with 20 minutes to go, far ahead of his teammate Schumacher, who was last… not bad!

The Alfa Romeos were also surprising, showing a pace worthy of the top 10: Räikkönen 8th just ahead of Giovinazzi!

Carlos Sainz picked up his good pace, improving the best time!

RED FLAG

Suddenly: BOOM! Nicholas Latifi was caught in the Swimming Pool S-turns. The Williams’ crash caused a red flag, with 17 minutes remaining in the session. The Canadian driver was a bit too optimistic at the entry of the Swimming Pool, touched the inside barrier and went straight into the opposite wall. Exactly what Verstappen experienced in 2018.

Too bad, he was able to beat George Russell to 16th place.

RESUMPTION OF SESSION

Max Verstappen chose to go back out first for the last 12 minutes of the third free practice session. The Dutchman attacked immediately, but was unable to improve his time. Nevertheless, it would have been necessary to reassure himself before the decisive qualifying session.

Perez’s other Red Bull was not of much help in putting the Austrian team back on top. Max Verstappen achieved this by setting the fastest time, with a lap time of 1:11:294, surpassing Carlos Sainz.

The Mercedes were far off the mark: Bottas, on a clear lap, failed by almost half a second from Verstappen…it doesn’t bode well for the qualifying session.

Red flag and end of session!

Mick Schumacher smashed his Haas at the exit of the Casino, ending the last free practice session of the weekend! The German driver finished this session in 14th place. No qualifying for him.

Max Verstappen has therefore set the best time of these free practice 3. He is ahead of the two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

Results table