GP – Free Practice 3: Kovalainen victorious but crashed

Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest time in the final practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix but at the cost of an accident that prevented him from continuing the session.

The Finnish driver, who is more than 0.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, lost control of his McLaren at the pool exit, damaging the rear of his car.

The session was then interrupted to clean up the debris left on the track.

Five minutes were enough for the wet conditions to appear on the track. The circuit had dried in the morning, but Kovalainen is the fastest with a 1’16”567.

Until the arrival of the rain, the session was productive for the entire field except for David Coulthard.

The first ten minutes of the session saw Felipe Massa’s Ferrari take the lead on the timesheet with a series of timed laps, finishing with a time of 1’17”691.

Räikkönen quickly gained the upper hand on his teammate by setting the fastest time himself, but Hamilton came to challenge him by swiftly taking the lead until Kovalainen emerged from the pits…

In the end, the former Renault driver is first, his teammate second, and Räikkönen third.

Nico Rosberg confirms his team’s good form in Monaco with the fourth fastest time. The German was just as impressive as in Free Practice 2.

Robert Kubica and his BMW finish fifth ahead of Massa, who ultimately drops to sixth place.

Mark Webber, still in form in Monaco, is seventh. Behind him is Adrian Sutil, who once again shines in the Saturday morning practice session under difficult conditions.

Kazuki Nakajima and Jenson Button complete the top ten while Sébastien Bourdais delivers a strong performance with an 11th place.

The Renaults are far off but preferred to play it safe in these conditions before the qualifying session.

Finally, if the track began to dry in the last moments, Kubica did no better than 1’26”459, followed by Räikkönen’s Ferrari (1’27”077) and Massa’s (1’27”325).

Results of Free Practice 3 – 2008 Monaco GP