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F1 Monaco GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying
Saturday's action from the sixth round of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
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Another huge stream of cars head out onto track, as the Ferrari crew and Leclerc decide not to switch the order of cars around.
Green flag
We're back under way in Monaco, 11 minutes of Q1 remain!
The Williams cars have already headed to the end of the pitlane ready for this restart.
Update from race control, session will resume at 1617 local time - in three minutes, in other words.
The Red Bull is out of the way but now the barrier repairs are commencing as the Mexican has made a bit of a mess of them with his clumsy crash.
The Red Bull now gets the crane treatment as the RB19 is floating high above the Monte-Carlo track.
Perez just carried far too much speed into the opening corner and smashed into the TecPro barriers, scattering debris across the crash. Very costly mistake for Perez - and has done his championship bid all sorts of damage.
Stopwatch
Just before Perez smashed the wall, the McLarens had risen to run 1-2 with Zhou up to third.
The Mexican has clouted the barriers exiting St Devote. Disaster for his challenge this weekend. And that means he will be starting near the back of the grid.
Red flag
And we've got a red flag already! And it's Perez!
Alonso now climbs to third and he's just a tenth behind Verstappen - this could be very close.
There's an odd one for Monaco, but Sainz has had his first lap time deleted for track limits at Turn 10 - cutting part of the chicane in other words.
Stopwatch
And, sure enough, Verstappen goes to the top with a 1m13.784s to go a tenth quicker than team-mate Perez. Leclerc is third.
But Verstappen, unsurprisingly, has gone purple in the first sector as everyone tries to get a decent lap in straightaway.
Stopwatch
First times arrive and it's Ocon leading the way on a 1m14.083s.
And now the Aston Martins do indeed head out as well - all 20 cars on the tight Monaco track, should be fun.
Cars continue to stream out of the pits with the Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull machines all joining the fray. In fact, it's just the Astons yet to emerge.
Both Alfas and Alpines also head out early - all looking to get a banker lap in amid the crazy traffic of Q1.
And it's the two Williams and AlphaTauris that head the field out of the pits.
Green flag
Here we go, the Monaco GP qualifying fun begins!
Hamilton update: the Briton has just nestled himself inside the W14 and there doesn't appear to be any concerns about him making the start of this session.
Right, less than 10 minutes to go now until qualifying begins!
Sun
There's glorious sunshine in Monaco, so it's therefore perhaps not surprising to find the chance of rain during qualifying is 0%. But it's still got the potential to be an interesting session even without the wet stuff.
Now, for those of you tuning in for the first time this weekend, no your eyes are not deceiving you! It's not 1984! Just McLaren running a retro livery as part of its celebrations of the triple crown of motorsport (Monaco GP, Indy 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours) - all events coming up soon.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL60
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Breaking news
Meanwhile, things have been going a little more swimmingly for Red Bull. It was Verstappen who was fastest in final practice earlier, but the red flag for Hamilton's crash did prevent any late improvements: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-monaco-gp-verstappen-heads-red-bull-1-2-in-fp3-hamilton-crashes/10474198/
Speaking of Hamilton, it's been a busy couple of hours for the Mercedes team. After retrieving the Briton's car from its high-flying escapade - as the W14 looked to be going to infinity and beyond when craned away earlier - the mechanics have then had to get it back into shape for this qualifying session. Certainly far from ideal preparation.
Mercedes W14 after a crash
Photo by: Uncredited
And one of the keys to that will be keeping it out of the walls. We've seen Albon, Sainz and, most recently, Hamilton strike the barriers over this weekend - will there be more to come today?
Given how notoriously difficult it is to overtake around the streets of Monte-Carlo, all the drivers will be desperate to snare a good starting place on the grid in the next hour and a bit.
It's just over 20 minutes until arguably the most important qualifying session of the entire Formula 1 season.
Hello and welcome back to Autosport's live text coverage of the Saturday of the Monaco Grand Prix!
Breaking news
So that's final practice over from Monaco. If you missed any of the action, here is Autosport's full report on the session.
We'll be back in around two hours for possibly the most exciting hour of the year - qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.
As ever, thank you for joining us for FP3!
We'll be back in around two hours for possibly the most exciting hour of the year - qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.
As ever, thank you for joining us for FP3!
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Penalty
Zhou - 16th fastest - has also been fined for the same offence.
Penalty
To make things worse for Hamilton, he has now been fined for speeding in the pit lane.
Checkered flag
Verstappen tops FP3 from Perez with Stroll third and Sainz fourth.
However, Hamilton's late crash means that we have more questions than answers heading into qualifying.
However, Hamilton's late crash means that we have more questions than answers heading into qualifying.
There is the official confirmation, the session will not be resumed.
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Given the number of updates on the W14, it remains to be seen if Mercedes has enough of its new parts to replace those damaged.
With less than four minutes now remaining on the clock, it is almost certain that the session will not resume.
By: Autosport Staff
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