Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Red Bull confident

The third free practice session in Monaco is particularly tricky for the drivers. They have to prepare as best as possible for the qualifiers and thus push the limits to find rhythm without exceeding them and ending up in the wall. An accident could indeed prevent the car from being repaired in time for the qualifying session.

Small alert for Alpine

In the Top 10 during the first two free practice sessions of the weekend, Esteban Ocon’s third session didn’t start off ideally. In the middle of a preparation lap, the engine of the Alpine suddenly cut out in the iconic tunnel of Monaco. A dark and narrow place from which one wants to quickly escape, not get stuck in. Luckily for him, the Norman driver managed to restart his car and bring it back to the pit lane without causing any incident. It later turned out that the issue encountered by the number 31 driver was a brake failure. Once this problem was resolved, Ocon returned to the track and displayed good speed, placing himself in the top half of the rankings.

Red Bull and Verstappen in good shape

Having waited in his cage for nearly 20 minutes, the lion Max Verstappen revved his engine on his first fast lap. The Dutchman clocked a 1’13’794, a time that left the competition 6 tenths behind. That was before another animal, the Asturian Bull, set a time 98 milliseconds faster. Fernando Alonso knows that the Monaco track could be the perfect hunting ground to go after his first win of the season.

While the Red Bulls were effortlessly setting fast lap times, the Ferraris seemed to have to push close to their limits to replicate a similar pace. Charles Leclerc notably complained over the radio about a car that was too unstable in the swimming pool complex, the fastest section of the circuit, where confidence is key to navigate the corners at around 200km/h. The Austrian team almost made us forget about the FP1 session when the RB1 struggled with bumps in the asphalt.

With only 10 minutes left, almost all the drivers were on the track. This was revealing one of the major issues of the Monaco circuit: traffic management. Many drivers, like Sergio Perez, were making big gestures in their cockpit to show their frustration of being blocked in their fast lap.

An animated end of the session

After a getaway in the Sainte-Dévote escape route, Kevin Magnussen saw his session end prematurely due to a hydraulic issue that deprived him of power steering. The Dane leaves his seat with the 12th best time. Once again this season, Haas shows a good level of performance. The appearance of a virtual safety car reduced the commotion on the circuit before a red flag caused by Lewis Hamilton’s contact with the wall sent all the ants back to their nest.

The seven-time world champion was approaching Mirabeau with a bit too much speed and ended up hitting the barriers with his new W14. The damage to the Mercedes doesn’t seem too severe and could allow Hamilton to take part in the qualifying session. This offered the spectators an impressive sight, with the world champion’s car being lifted several meters in the air above the asphalt.

Since the session didn’t resume, it is therefore the two Red Bulls that finish in the lead of this third free practice session. Relatively invisible since the beginning of the weekend, Lance Stroll finally showed up and ranks in third position. Good performances from Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly who have entered the Top 6.

If Red Bull remains the big favorite for the pole position, Ferrari and Aston Martin should not be ruled out of the equation.