Monaco Grand Prix FP3: Verstappen fastest ahead of qualifying, Sainz and Leclerc follow

Monaco Grand Prix FP3: Verstappen fastest ahead of qualifying, Sainz and Leclerc follow

Max Verstappen

In a session full of drama, Max Verstappen was the pace setter as he topped the FP3 charts. The session was red flagged twice, first for Nicholas Latifi’s crash at the exit of Swimming Pool chicane and the second for Mick Schumacher’s heavy crash three minutes before the session as he exited Casino Square. The latter’s crash meant that the session would be called off early.

The two Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were in the lead for majority of the session before Max Verstappen topped the timings with a laptime of 1 min 11.294 secs. Sainz was just 4 hundreds behind the Dutch driver with a time of 1 min 11.341 secs. Leclerc was 2 tenths behind his teammate to secure P3.

Sergio Perez looked pacy on the medium tyres early on and ended the session at P5, half a second behind his teammate. Lando Norris, running in McLaren’s one off livery, secured P6 with a laptime of 1 min 11.988 secs.

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The Mercedes struggle continues

Mercedes

Mercedes were surprisingly off the pace all week. In FP3, Valtteri Bottas finished P4, four tenths off Verstappen while championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished a lowkey P7, three tenths off Bottas and a massive seven tenths off championship rival Verstappen.

Apart from the Mercedes shock, Kimi Raikkonen’s pace has been a surprise this week too. He finished P10 and P11 in the first two practice sessions respectively and finished P8 in FP3, two tenths ahead of 10th placed Sebastian Vettel.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished ninth while Vettel’s team mate Lance Stroll bagged P12 ahead of a struggling Daniel Ricciardo in the McLaren. Before the terrible crash, Mick Schumacher was having a good run and finished P14.

Alpine had Fernando Alonso 15th and Esteban Ocon rounding out the standings. Williams’ George Russell finished 17th ahead of his team mate Nicholas Latifi, while AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda could only manage P19.

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Also read: Can Ferrari really win the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix