by John N May 28, 2022, 1:20 pm inUncategorized

Perez Tops Final Free Practice Session At the Principality

Sergio Perez of Red Bull won the lead in the final Free Practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, finishing 0.041s ahead of local hero Charles Leclerc, while Carlos Sainz finished third. The vehicles rumbled out onto the Monaco track under a blazing sun for the final hour of practice, with temperatures reaching 27 degrees Celsius.

Given the significance of track position and the tight structure of the Monaco circuit, it was predictable to see drivers choose the softer end of the tire spectrum in FP3, with a handful of drivers going out on the soft C5 tires right away.

The first swathe of those soft runs in the opening 20 minutes saw Leclerc initially lead the way with a 1m 13.434s – with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen lurking 0.246s off the Monegasque’s pace, Sainz and Perez filling in behind.

With the teams pounding lap after lap on the same tires, Sergio Perez regained the lead 25 minutes into the race, only for Leclerc to set a delicious time of 1m 12.885s – 0.412s faster than Perez’s – before returning to the pits to recover.

Fast forward to the final ten minutes, and the accurate qualifying simulations began, with the times tumbling in quick succession – Leclerc and Perez, the two drivers, looking particularly in good shape around Monaco, went head to head for the P1 time, Perez eventually coming out on top with a 1m 12.476s, the fastest lap of the weekend so far, but only 0.041s ahead of Leclerc.

Sainz would end up 0.370s adrift of Perez, as Max Verstappen took P4 for the third successive practice session, the Dutchman 0.405s off his teammate and seemingly yet to find his comfort zone in Monaco this weekend.

Pierre Gasly was one of the stars of FP3, the Frenchman’s AlphaTauri working beautifully in the low-speed corners as he took P5 ahead of the equally impressive Lando Norris in the McLaren.

Mercedes drivers were heard complaining vocally about the poor ride on their W13, which showed in the times as Lewis Hamilton wound up P7, nine-tenths off the pace. Ahead of the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, teammate George Russell and the Alpine of Fernando Alonso rounding out the top 10.

The second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda couldn’t quite match Gasly’s pace as he took P11 ahead of the second Haas of Mick Schumacher. Sebastian Vettel was Aston Martin’s best-placed driver in P13, although the German was left ranting after coming across a slow-moving Sainz on the run-up to Massenet.

The iconic Monaco tunnel 🤩🍿#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/BiAOjXkkrD

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2022

However, while that incident wasn’t investigated, others between Sainz and Lance Stroll, Perez and Russell, Verstappen and Zhou Guanyu will be analyzed post-session.

Valtteri Bottas was P14 for Alfa Romeo and presumably satisfied to get some clean running after missing most of FP1 yesterday – as the Williams of Alex Albon was P15.

Daniel Ricciardo was getting his eye in after his hefty FP2 shunt, taking a lowly P16 ahead of Esteban Ocon and Stroll – the Canadian clipping the outside wall at the exit of Piscine midway through the session before winding up 18th.

Zhou and Nicholas Latifi rounded out the order as the drivers now prepare to unleash their cars in Monaco’s adrenaline-pumping qualifying session, starting at 1600 local time.