Monaco – Free Practice 3: It’s Rosberg’s Turn

It is on a track heated to 30°C and bathed in sunlight that the drivers prepare for this third free practice session. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) is the first to position himself at the exit of the pit lane, waiting for the green light. Thus, as soon as the session starts, the drivers come out of the pit lane for their usual installation laps.

Only Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) stays on track to set an initial reference time of 1:21.162 before lowering it to 1:18.993. The Finn is joined on track by the Mercedes drivers, and it is Nico Rosberg who temporarily grabs the fastest time by 6 hundredths of a second.

Although the Free Practice 2 session was disrupted by rain and the lack of experience with the Super Soft tires, marked by red sidewalls, provided by Pirelli, there aren’t many drivers on track and all still prefer the soft tires.

After reclaiming the best time, Kimi Räikkönen has to yield it to Paul di Resta (Force India) with 1:17.390. After fifteen minutes of testing, the Scotsman leads Räikkönen, Grosjean, Rosberg, Vettel, Schumacher, Vergne, De la Rosa, Pic, and Karthikeyan.

Quickly, Romain Grosjean (Lotus) is the first driver to go under the 1:17 mark. Threatened by Hamilton (McLaren), the French driver hammers it home with a time of 1:16.359 before reaching a new level at 1:15.811, improving the weekend’s best time with the soft tires.

Behind the Lotus driver, Sergio Pérez pushes his car hard while he holds the second position but flirts with the rail in the swimming pool chicane and prefers to return to the pits. Felipe Massa takes advantage of this to slip between the Lotus and the Sauber, moving into second position.

Kimi Räikkönen is the first to equip Super Soft tires on his Lotus E20, but is only six-tenths off his teammate’s best time for his first fast lap. Meanwhile, still on soft tires, Felipe Massa closes in on Grosjean’s best time by dropping below the 1:16 mark as well. But it’s Nico Rosberg, with a 1:15.751, who grabs the provisional best time and then lowers it to 1:15.159.

The German then leads ahead of Grosjean, Massa, Perez, Alonso, Schumacher, Räikkönen, Kobayashi, Vettel, and Button. Still on soft tires, Lewis Hamilton misses his first braking while Romain Grosjean returns to the track on super soft tires. The Frenchman finishes in third place behind Fernando Alonso, also on the softest tires.

Tenth by tenth, Fernando Alonso gradually gets closer to Rosberg’s best time while Felipe Massa positions himself right behind his leader. Jenson Button, who was more or less the only one to do a real stint with the Super Soft tires on Thursday, climbs to fifth place in his first fast lap on these tires, while Sebastian Vettel has a big scare as he loses control of his RB8 exiting the swimming pool chicane. For his part, still on soft tires, Lewis Hamilton seems to be working more for the race.

The end of the session is marked by several incidents. In a quick lap, Sergio Pérez gets stuck behind a Force India at the Anthony Noghès corner, which considerably annoys the Mexican. A few seconds later, Paul di Resta loses control while braking at the harbor chicane, breaks his wing on the inside rail before ending up in the chicane escape area, where the new surface almost instantly stops his car. But it is Pastor Maldonado who causes the red flag, signaling the end of the session: after a slight collision with Sergio Pérez at the Portier corner, he hits the inside of the Casino corner on the following lap, before crashing into the opposite barrier, destroying part of his rear suspension in the process.

For the second time this weekend, a Free Practice session ends prematurely. Nico Rosberg holds the best time ahead of Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, and Romain Grosjean. Seventh, Lewis Hamilton mainly worked with the soft tires, likely in preparation for the race.

Free Practice 3 Results of the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix: