Charles Leclerc tops the timesheet in free practice 3 at the Monaco Grand Prix

Monaco Grand Prix: F1 free practice 3 results

Who will top the timesheet in the final practice session ahead of qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix?

Rhiannon Temporal 5 min read

Latest Episode | Cut To The Race Podcast

A red flag and impeding incidents encapsulates free practice 3 at the Monaco Grand Prix

George Russell is the first car on track as the light goes green for free practice 3 at the Monaco Grand Prix
George Russell is the first car on track as the light goes green for free practice 3 at the Monaco Grand Prix. (Image Credit: @F1 on X)

So far this weekend, Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet in free practice 1. Meanwhile, in the second session Hamilton’s future teammate Charles Leclerc was lightning quick at his home Grand Prix. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen has had a slow start to his Monaco Grand Prix weekend, finishing FP1 in P11 and FP2 in P4.

On Friday, Ferrari, particularly in the hands of Leclerc, appeared to have the edge. But Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull are all in the mix. Which team have found the most overnight? And who will be quickest at the end of the final practice session ahead of qualifying?

The light goes green for free practice 3

As the session gets underway, it is a slightly slower start compared to the two Friday sessions. George Russell is the first driver out on track followed by the two McLaren drivers and Daniel Ricciardo. The Mercedes driver is the odd one out on his soft tyres, with the other three opting for the hards.

Early on, Russell reports that his steering is much different compared to yesterday. The young Brit was complaining about steering issues and vibrations on Friday. Hopefully the changes are positive rather than negative.

Both McLarens quickly return to the pits to change their hard tyres for mediums. Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll enter the track also with hard tyres, with Fernando Alonso joining them on the mediums.

With all the previously mentioned drivers returning to the pits, only Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton remain out on track. Both drivers opted for the soft tyres. The first ten minutes of the session have been rather quiet. But the Haas driver becomes the first to set a lap time in free practice 3, with a 1:14.683. But Hamilton dethrones Magnussen, going significantly faster with a 1:14.104. However, we are still far away from the 1:11s we saw yesterday.

Red flag

The quiet session is about to become absolutely silent. Valtteri Bottas hits the wall at Piscine and breaks his front right suspension. The Sauber comes to a halt before the pit lane.

As he is making his way back to the pits, Hamilton has to take avoiding action and come to a stop himself. With Bottas’ car parked at Rascasse, the seven-time world champion didn’t see the Sauber until he had to slam on the brakes to avoid it.

The session gets back underway

Thankfully, the red flag period wasn’t too long, with all the drivers queuing to get back out on track. Considering the slow start and the delay, the teams will be hurrying now to get through their programs. Bottas will not be seen again in the session, as the marshals didn’t recover the car pit-side, meaning the team will only be able to start work on the car after the session.

Magnussen and Hamilton have individual moments of running wide and having to perform handbrake turns. Neither car touches the wall, and both get back underway.

The times begin to tumble

With all drivers out on track, minus Bottas, the track is really rubbering in and the times are beginning to tumble. 25 minutes into the session its Oscar Piastri at the top of the timesheet with a 1:12.875. The Australian driver is followed by Leclerc, Magnussen, Carlos Sainz, Russell, Nico Hulkenberg, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Stroll, and Logan Sargeant making up the top 10.

Now that so many cars are out on track, traffic is starting to become an issue. An impeding incident between Hulkenberg, Tsunoda and Magnussen at turn nine has been noted by the stewards. On his first competitive push lap, Verstappen goes P2 behind Piastri, but Leclerc is quicker than both of them with a 1:12.521.

Piastri becomes the latest to go wide and perform a handbrake turn. The McLaren driver has his issue down at turn one, like Hamilton, and opts to bail out of it. There is no further investigation between Tsunoda, Magnussen, and Hulkenberg, and a similar investigation concerning Hamilton, Sargeant, and Verstappen, has been given the same verdict. However, in qualifying this story could have been very different.

Leclerc’s domination continues

No matter how much the rest of the field tries, no one can dethrone the hometown hero from the top of the timesheet. Leclerc set a 1:12.092 with Verstappen 0.408 adrift in P2. A mighty lap for Tsunoda saw him pop up to P2 before Verstappen took his position.

Sainz slots in behind his teammate before Russell splits the two Ferraris with a 1:12.223. But everyone seems to be going P2 at the minute, with Alonso now replacing the Mercedes driver. Alonso closes the gap again to Leclerc, which now sits at 0.110. But the Ferrari 1-2 is reinstated once more as Sainz goes back to P2, with a 1:11.979. The man from Monaco moves the goal posts again with a 1:11.369, 0.610 ahead of his teammate. Hamilton goes P3 with a 1:12.014 on his soft tyre run.

Meanwhile, Perez is down in P17 before his latest soft tyre run. The Mexican driver only improves up to P10, 0.908 off the pace. On his flying lap, Norris is impeded by Russell coming out of the tunnel. The incident has been noted by the stewards and will investigated after the session.

The McLaren driver pops up to P3 behind the two Ferrari drivers. But Verstappen is the next to close the gap to Leclerc, cutting his advantage down to 0.589. But not for long as Piastri goes P2 again, and the gap to Leclerc shrinks further down to 0.532. However, its Verstappen that takes the biggest chunk out of Leclerc, now only 0.197 away from the Ferrari driver. The following lap for the world champion was looking promising, but he runs into a bunch of cars at the end of his lap and has to back out of it.

Final classification of free practice 3

Verstappen has been noted by the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly, at the end of the session. Typically, penalties don’t materialise from these kind of incidents, but he will be investigated after the session. But its Leclerc yet again who is at the top of the timesheet this weekend with his 1:11.369. Verstappen, Hamilton, Piastri, Perez, Russell, Sainz, Norris, Tsunoda, and Alonso make up the top 10. Yet again, its the two Saubers at the other end of the timesheet, with the company of Ricciardo (P18), Sargeant (P17), and Ocon (P16).

Final classification of free practice 3 at the Monaco Grand Prix
Final classification of free practice 3 at the Monaco Grand Prix. (Image Credit: @F1 on X)

Feature Image Credit: @ScuderiaFerrari on X

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This website is unofficial and is not associated in any way with the Formula 1 companies. F1, FORMULA ONE, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trade marks of Formula One Licensing B.V.

Zeen is a next generation WordPress theme. It’s powerful, beautifully designed and comes with everything you need to engage your visitors and increase conversions.

Zeen Subscribe
A customizable subscription slide-in box to promote your newsletter
[mc4wp_form id="314"]