Practice report
Formula 1 Monaco GP
F1 Monaco GP: Leclerc leads Verstappen and Hamilton in FP3
Charles Leclerc continued his strong form over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend with the fastest time in the final Formula 1 practice session, ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
Jake Boxall-Legge
Published: May 25, 2024, 11:40 AM
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The session was red-flagged after the opening 10 minutes when Valtteri Bottas clipped the Swimming Pool exit wall, an impact that broke the front-right suspension on his Sauber and caused him to stop at Rascasse.
Once the Finn's car was moved behind the barriers as he could not recover to the pitlane, the session resumed in earnest - with all cars taking to the circuit on high fuel to log multiple laps in preparation for qualifying.
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Hamilton's pre-hiatus fastest lap was quickly beaten by team-mate George Russell, who in turn was drawn into an early battle over top spot with Haas' Nico Hulkenberg.
The two were outpaced by Oscar Piastri, who had drawn the times down to a 1m12.684s, before FP2 headliner Charles Leclerc went over a tenth quicker to move to the zenith of the order.
The Monegasque followed a similar trajectory to his efforts in FP2, where he continuously found time over the session as the fuel burned off and landed on a 1m11.977s at the end of his first set of soft tyres.
After a switch to a new set of the red-walled Pirellis, Leclerc turned up the wick and unearthed a 1m11.369s to put over 0.6s on team-mate Carlos Sainz - who had not long got within 0.002s of Leclerc's previous benchmark.
Given Leclerc's advantage, second was once again the main field of competition and Max Verstappen dialled himself in enough to claim a 1m11.566s, having often gained time in the opening sector but lost it in the next two.
The Dutch driver attempted to improve his time towards the end of the session, but got blocked into Rascasse by team-mate Sergio Perez.
Hamilton was third fastest despite a less-than-clean session, having got baulked by the stranded Bottas earlier in the session and then losing track time to a heavy Sainte Devote lock-up - where he heavily flat-spotted his tyres.
Piastri claimed the fourth fastest time, which could not be beaten by Perez's last-minute lap that was good enough for fifth; the Mexican stated over the radio that the car was "nowhere".
Russell and Sainz claimed the sixth and seventh fastest times, as Lando Norris was just 0.009s behind his former team-mate - having survived a near-miss with Russell on the exit of the tunnel.
Yuki Tsunoda again impressed with the ninth fastest time, as Fernando Alonso completed the top 10 having spent the first half of the session circulating on the medium tyre.
Monaco Grand Prix - Free Practice 3
Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
1
-
4
Main Information Additional Data
1
-
2
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h 1 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 26
1'11.369
168.325 2 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1
Red Bull Red Bull 27
+0.197
1'11.566
0.197 167.861 3 L. Hamilton Mercedes 44
Mercedes Mercedes 25
+0.341
1'11.710
0.144 167.524 4 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 25
+0.532
1'11.901
0.191 167.079 5 S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11
Red Bull Red Bull 24
+0.554
1'11.923
0.022 167.028 6 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 33
+0.599
1'11.968
0.045 166.924 7 C. Sainz Ferrari 55
Ferrari Ferrari 26
+0.610
1'11.979
0.011 166.898 8 L. Norris McLaren 4
McLaren Mercedes 24
+0.619
1'11.988
0.009 166.877 9 Y. Tsunoda RB 22
RB Red Bull 27
+0.622
1'11.991
0.003 166.870 10 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Mercedes 25
+0.718
1'12.087
0.096 166.648 11 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Renault 26
+0.775
1'12.144
0.057 166.516 12 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 24
+0.811
1'12.180
0.036 166.433 13 N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27
Haas Ferrari 24
+0.823
1'12.192
0.012 166.406 14 K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20
Haas Ferrari 31
+0.847
1'12.216
0.024 166.350 15 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Mercedes 25
+0.962
1'12.331
0.115 166.086 16 E. Ocon Alpine 31
Alpine Renault 25
+1.103
1'12.472
0.141 165.763 17 L. Sargeant Williams 2
Williams Mercedes 21
+1.334
1'12.703
0.231 165.236 18 D. Ricciardo RB 3
RB Red Bull 28
+1.460
1'12.829
0.126 164.950 19 Z. Guanyu Sauber 24
Sauber Ferrari 28
+2.461
1'13.830
1.001 162.714 20 V. Bottas Sauber 77
Sauber Ferrari 2
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