Monaco – Free Practice 3: Ricciardo Still on Top, Verstappen Hits the Barrier!

The Red Bulls dominated the first two practice sessions on Thursday with Daniel Ricciardo setting the fastest times in FP1 and FP2, closely followed by his teammate Max Verstappen.

Announced as the favorite for this race, the Austrian team will have to confirm its ambitions during this new session, which is taking place, like the rest of the weekend probably, under bright sunshine and scorching heat: 24 degrees in the air and over 40 on the track.

Kimi Räikkönen is the first to set a reference time of 1:13.729, right away on hyper-soft tires. Deprived of part of the second free practice session due to a stubborn manhole cover, the drivers decided to go directly on track to set a time, and in the first few minutes, the times kept improving.

Carlos Sainz reports issues with the power steering of his Renault, which doesn’t prevent him from outpacing his teammate Nico Hülkenberg on his first attempt. The Mercedes are on the attack but are experiencing some difficulties. Lewis Hamilton brakes more than late at the tunnel exit while Valtteri Bottas misses the first corner and touches the tire wall with the rear of his car while trying to extricate himself from the escape road with a very ambitious 360°.

Bottas locks up at St. Devote… #MonacoGP 🇲🇨 #F1 pic.twitter.com/urDw9LDcnf

— Formula 1 (@F1) 26 mai /f1/actualite/22707-monaco-essais-libres-1-ricciardo-et-verstappen-au-sommet-et-battent-deja-la-pole-2017-.html

The Red Bulls are among the last to set a time but soon take the lead in the session. Daniel Ricciardo, with a time of 1:12.449, is narrowly beaten by Max Verstappen, who sets a 1:12.336. Despite a few minor scrapes with the barrier, both Toro Rossos are comfortable on the Monaco track. Brandon Hartley is credited with the 6th fastest time, less than a second off the best time, and Pierre Gasly is 8th, exactly one second behind Verstappen.

Romain Grosjean, twice blocked by traffic during his two attempts at a fast lap, complains on the radio and finds himself at the bottom of the standings. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is the first driver of the day to go under the 1 minute 12 seconds mark with a time of 1:11.787. Behind him, the Ferraris are the fastest with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen securing 3rd and 4th positions at a respectable distance from the best time.

A hierarchy seems to be forming with the Red Bulls ahead of the Ferraris and the Mercedes. In the pack, the Renaults are battling with the Toro Rossos and the McLarens, with Stoffel Vandoorne having set an impressive 9th time while his teammate Fernando Alonso is only 16th.

The times hardly change during the second half of the session, with teams and their drivers focusing more on long stints on Hyper soft tires in preparation for the race. Struggling with his Williams, Lance Stroll is the third driver, after Bottas and Sainz, to go straight at Sainte Dévote. The Canadian resumes. He ranks 16th in the standings, 8 tenths behind his teammate Sergey Sirotkin, who takes the last spot in the Top 10.

Thunderbolt with less than 10 minutes to go, Max Verstappen loses control of his car exiting the swimming pool section and crashes his Red Bull into the barrier. The Dutch driver was too ambitious entering the turn, breaking his suspension clean off on the inside rail. The mechanics will have a lot of work to do during the lunch break to allow the driver to take part in the qualifying session. The session is, of course, interrupted with a red flag.

RED FLAG 🚩

Disaster for @Max33Verstappen 💥 Heavy impact exiting the swimming pool section #MonacoGP 🇲🇨 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Hjr3HPiZII — Formula 1 (@F1) 26 May /f1/actualite/22707-monaco-essais-libres-1-ricciardo-et-verstappen-au-sommet-et-battent-deja-la-pole-2017-.html

The session resumes and Daniel Ricciardo sets off to attack the stopwatch. The Australian takes the best time in the second sector and snatches the top spot in the standings from Verstappen by a tiny thousandth of a second! Once again, Red Bull is in front, but with a definite handicap for Max Verstappen, who should still be able to participate in the qualifications! In any case, he leaves a heavily damaged car with his mechanics, two hours before the next session, crucial in Monaco.

The complete classification of FP3

FP3 CLASSIFICATION (60/60 MINS): A @redbullracing one-two, but… #MonacoGP 🇲🇨 #F1 pic.twitter.com/XfuURhxc9G

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 26

Meet us around 4 PM to discover the summary of the qualifications!

From our special correspondent in Monaco