Sebastian Vettel has set the quickest time for Ferrari in the third free practice session ahead of the Monaco grand prix.
Vettel set a quickest time of 1:12:395 ahead of his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The first of the Mercedes drivers was Valtteri Bottas in third, 0.435 off P1, followed by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in fourth. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton could only manage the fifth quickest time which was more than eight tenths off the pace.
Force India’s Esteban Ocon was the only driver to clout the barriers at the exit of the swimming pool. Several other drivers missed braking points and took the the exit roads at Ste. Devote and Mirabeau but avoided any damage.
Daniel Ricciardo ended the sixty minute session sixth fastest but with a brake-by-wire failure at the end of the session. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat set the seventh and eighth quickest times ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the Haas and Stoffel Vandoorne in tenth. While McLaren showed an improved performance in the session, with stand-in Jenson Button also in twelfth, both drivers will incur grid penalties for Sunday’s race. Vandoorne will drop three places on the grid for a collision with Felipe Massa in Spain while Jenson Button has been hit with a fifteen place grid drop due to power unit changes.
As qualifying is vital around the tight and twisting streets of Monaco it remains to be seen what Mercedes can put on the table for qualifying.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP3): @ScuderiaFerrari looking strong ahead of #Quali #MonacoGP 🇲🇨 #F1 pic.twitter.com/MtSOQmIeye
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2017