MONACO GP – Charles Leclerc fastest by nearly three tenths in third practice as Lewis Hamilton crashes
Charles Leclerc made it a clean sweep of practice as he was fastest in third practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. The Monacan set a 10.953 to put himself just over two and three quarters of a tenth ahead of Max Verstappen, the two McLarens with Lando Norris a hundredth behind the Red Bull and a tenth and a half ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.
Leclerc improved on Verstappen’s time at the end of the session, with his 11.179s just just over half a tenth quicker than the world champion’s effort on mediums, before improving his time to a 10.953s to go nearly three-tenths clear. Verstappen however complained about grip on the C6 soft tyres, one of the drivers resorted to trying two consecutive cooldown laps to get the red-walled tyre back into the right operating window.
Ferrari has looked quick all weekend, but it wasn’t all plain sailing for the team despite being fifth half a second off Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton crashed his Ferrari in the closing moment as he finished fifth a tenth behind Piastri. The seven-time champion washed out at Massenet on the entry to Casino Square.
Leclerc is the driver to beat, though, as he was ahead of Verstappen by nearly three-tenths as he continued his supreme pace from Friday, where he topped both practice sessions. However the Ferrari drivers time came on the softs and Verstappen’s mediums, that would suggest that there is very little between the two softest compounds in the range.
Hamilton was nearly a tenth and a half faster than Alex Albon, with the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson splitting the Williams as he was also nearly a tenth and a half behind the Ferrari as he went eight hundredths ahead of Carlos Sainz. Yuki Tsunoda put his Red Bull ninth going half a tenth ahead of the two Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli completing the top ten after he was three and a half hundredths ahead of teammate George Russell.
Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin twelfth, he was a quarter of a tenth behind Russell and ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg by seven hundredths. Qualifying is set to be tight with a second covering the top ten, while eight-tenths covered the bottom half of the grid.
The cut-off for Q3 in FP3 was 12.013 with Russell half a tenth off while the Q2 cut was 12.202, but Ollie Bearman was half a tenth behind Lance Stroll’s 12.202. While just under two seconds covering the entire field.
The most important qualifying of the season is set to be once again tight, but the unknown is how tight and the impact on the Grand Prix with the compulsory two-race minimum. Ferrari look and has felt like the team to beat all weekend.