Charles Leclerc continues to fly through the streets of his Monte Carlo and confirms himself as the fastest also in the third and final free practice session of the 2024 Monaco Grand Prixeighth round of the Formula One World Championship of the season. 1’11″369 the time of the Monegasque, totally at ease with the Ferrari SF-24 on soft tires in preparation for qualifying.
The native of the Principality therefore makes the Prancing Horse fans dream, making significant gaps throughout the session, even if in the last minutes of FP3 Max Verstappen he was able to get close to 197 thousandths of Leclerc’s time, sending positive signals ahead of the official afternoon tests at the wheel of a Red Bull that is certainly improving compared to yesterday.
Third place, 341 thousandths from the top for the Briton Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes, preceding the McLaren of a positive Oscar Piastri (4th at 0.532) and the second Red Bull of a dull Sergio Perez (5th at 0.554). George Russell was sixth with the Mercedes at 0.599, immediately ahead of the Spaniard’s Ferrari Carlos Sainzstill looking for the optimal set-up to best express themselves.
The top 10 are rounded off by Lando Norris on McLaren, Yuki Tsunoda on Racing Bulls and Fernando Alonso on Aston Martin, but there are as many as 15 drivers within less than a second of Leclerc’s best overall performance. It promises to be a very heated battle to get past the cut in Q1 and also in Q2, with the top teams having to be very careful.
FP3 CLASSIFICATION MONACO F1 GP 2024
1 Charles LECLERC Ferrari1:11.369 – –
2 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing+0.197 – –
3 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes+0.341 – –
4 Oscar PLATES McLaren+0.532 – –
5 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing+0.554 – –
6 George RUSSELL Mercedes+0.599 – –
7 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari+0.610 – –
8 Lando NORRIS McLaren+0.619 – –
9 Yuki TSUNODA RB+0.622 – –
10 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin+0.718 – –
11 Pierre GASLY Alpine+0.775 – –
12 Alexander ALBON Williams+0.811 – –
13 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team+0.823 – –
14 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team+0.847 – –
15 Lance STROLL Aston Martin+0.962 – –
16 Esteban OCON Alpine+1,103 – –
17 Logan SARGEANT Williams+1,334 – –
18 Daniel RICCIARDO RB+1,460 – –
19 Guanyu ZHOU Kick Sauber+2,461 – –
20 Valtteri BOTTAS Kick Sauber- – – –
