Vettel crashes and Ferrari gets bogged down in Monaco
Both Ferrari drivers were unhappy with their performance today. Sebastien Vettel made several mistakes at the wheel of a car with imperfect balance, and Kimi Räikkönen was no more satisfied with his single-seater, even though improvements were made for the Finn in the afternoon.
Third fastest time in FP1 in the morning, Sebastian Vettel’s day turned into a nightmare in the afternoon. A straight-on at Sainte Dévote, a spin at Mirabeau damaging his rear wing, and another scrape at the first corner marred his second free practice session.
Despite everything, the German believes he has enough pace to approach the weekend well: “It wasn’t a ‘clean’ day at the office today! Our day was a bit disjointed: I hit the wall, damaged the rear wing, but fortunately, we were able to repair and continue. I couldn’t find the rhythm, I didn’t do good laps with the Ultra Soft tires… If you look at the standings, we can’t believe what we did today! But despite everything, the car is good and has the right pace. So, I’m not worried about Saturday.”
Less optimistic than his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen acknowledges that he has nevertheless made progress between the two sessions. But he still has a lot of work to do to be competitive by Saturday: “It wasn’t an ideal day, but it’s only the first day. This morning, I wasn’t very satisfied with the car, but in the afternoon, we managed to improve its behavior. We still have a lot of work to do and, of course, it’s not the ideal place when everything isn’t working as you’d like.”
For the first use of Ultra Soft tires during a race weekend, the drivers seem enthusiastic, like the Finn: « This is the first time we’re using Ultra Soft tires during a race weekend, and from what we’ve seen, they seem to be the best components we’ve tried since the start of the season. But we still need to find the best way to use them perfectly. »
From our special correspondent in Monaco
