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Monaco GP
F1 Monaco GP Live Commentary and Updates – FP3 & Qualifying
Saturday's action from the eighth round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
F1 returns to Monaco with Charles Leclerc having led the way in Friday practice from Lewis Hamilton, who topped topped the opening session for Merecedes.
FP3 starts at 11:30 BST (12:30 local time) followed by qualifying at 15:00 BST (16:00 local time).
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If you weren't around for FP3 earlier, Leclerc was fastest around his home streets ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton. It really could be anyone's pole position.
The F2 race finished not too long ago after a red flag stoppage, but there is no delay to F1 qualifying!
Hello and welcome back to Saturday's coverage of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Qualifying is just 15 minutes away, who will take the most important pole of the year?
Qualifying is just 15 minutes away, who will take the most important pole of the year?
We'll take a little breather there on the live blog, but do keep an eye on the website in the interim for all the breaking news and reaction from Monaco as it happens. We look forward to you joining us later. As Murray Walker once put it, anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does...
Leclerc then is the form man heading into qualifying, but all bets are off given the proximity of punishing walls - as Bottas discovered to his cost in FP3. Can the home hero scale the heights he managed in 2021? Join us at 15:00 BST to find out.
If you missed any of that frenetic FP3, here is the full report: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-monaco-gp-leclerc-fastest-in-final-practice-from-verstappen-and-hamilton/10615309/
Aston Martin spent much of that session running on the mediums, presumably with a view to tomorrow. How much did that contribute to Alonso ending up tenth, and will the Spaniard who came so close to pole last year be right up there when it counts this afternoon?
Sainz ultimately ended up 0.610s down on his team-mate in seventh. Can he find improvements and get in the mix with Leclerc for pole?
The home hero kept chipping away at the times throughout the session, and ended up 0.197s clear of Verstappen, who sounded like he had nothing left in reserve to put himself within two tenths. The key question perhaps is how much does Leclerc have in hand? And can Verstappen iron out the problems that are making laptimes difficult to achieve for the Red Bull here?
Time then to take a breath after what was a frantic FP3 session that confirmed what we suspected after FP2: Charles Leclerc is going to be the man to beat in qualifying this afternoon.
Intriguingly, Verstappen is quicker in the first sector before the Ferraris of Leclerc (middle) and Sainz (third) gain the upper hand over the rest of the lap.
The charge of Verstappen driving unnecessarily slowly will be investigated by the stewards after the session.
"We have a lot of work to do, the car is nowhere," says Perez. Not often you hear a Red Bull driver making such damning comments. And the times back it up, as the 2022 Monaco winner was over half a second down on Leclerc.
There is an improvement from Perez, which slots him ahead of Russell into fifth. Hulkenberg is the only other driver to go quicker on the final tour for 13th.
There won't be from Verstappen, who caught traffic in the final sector then slowed in retaliation ahead of Sargeant, who was about to go for his own final lap. It has been noted by the stewards.
Checkered flag
Out comes the chequered flag. Will there be any more last gasp improvements?
Wow, not often you hear comments like this from the usually unruffled Verstappen: "If I do more laps like this I'll end up in the fence," he says in between expletives. Clearly he put everything on the line for that P2 lap.
We've not seen much from the Alpines in this session. Gasly is tenth, Ocon 16th; but the 2021 Hungary winner will be glad to have an undamaged car after a huge lock up and just as mighty kerb strike into Sainte Devote.
Now Verstappen pulls something more out of the bag to reclaim second. His latest effort puts him just 0.197s behind, while Hamilton grabs third away from Piastri.
Piastri is the latest driver to have a spell in second; the McLaren man logs a 1m11.901s. Leclerc's advantage is trimmed to a still mighty 0.532s.
While Tsunoda is flying high in fifth, 2018 Monaco winner Ricciardo is languishing in 18th. Will be curious to see whether that's down to trying different set-ups, or simply down to driver confidence.
Verstappen puts in a new personal best to go second, but Leclerc's advantage remains 0.589s.
Now Norris goes up to third, with Tsunoda continuing his impressive session in fourth. We've now seen replays of the Russell/Norris incident - the Mercedes man was crawling out of the tunnel and Norris took exception, coming particularly close while lambasting "idiots" on the track not watching their mirrors.
Unperturbed, Norris moves into fifth, ahead of Verstappen. Red Bull don't look particularly comfortable here, with Perez only tenth.
An incident involving Russell and Norris will be investigated after the session, we have been informed.
A new personal best from Hamilton moves him up to third, albeit 0.645s down on Leclerc.
Alonso remains third ahead of Verstappen, with Piastri fifth, Russell sixth and Magnussen seventh. Stroll, Hamilton and Tsunoda currently fill out the top 10 places.
Stopwatch
Having seen others come close, Leclerc fires a warning shot. His latest fastest lap is a 1m11.369s and puts him 0.610s up on Sainz. That's quite a gulf.
Albon isn't happy over the radio; he tells Williams that "we don't know what we're doing on the front tyres". He adds: "Just nowhere. The fronts are gone so early in the lap". He's currently tenth in the order.
Perez was languishing in 16th, which he goes some way to remedying by jumping up to tenth. Others are improving too, with Sainz going second just 0.002s behind his team-mate.
Now here comes Alonso, and he takes up the mantle as Leclerc's closest challenger with a 1m12.087s to go second, just 0.110s behind.
Hamilton springs up to fourth ahead of Tsunoda, but Russell goes better still and splits the Ferraris, pushing his team-mate down to fifth. A good effort there from the 2022 Brazil winner, who went purple in sector one.
After heading to the pits for a fresh set of boots, Albon, Russell and Hamilton lead the field back onto the circuit in the pursuit of another push lap.
Sainz remains the closest driver to Leclerc, but is 0.302s shy of his soon-to-be former team-mate heading into the final 20 minutes.
Stopwatch
Yet another improvement from Leclerc last time by makes him the first driver to dip under the 72s bracket. It's a 1m11.977s for the Monegasque, who on current form certainly appears favourite for pole this afternoon.
Hamilton does very well to avoid following his former team-mate Bottas into a damaging clash with the wall at the Swimming Pool after his W15 broke traction and slid through the right-hander, forcing him over the kerbs and needing to jam on the brakes as a result.
Verstappen responds, but is only able to shave a little off his previous best and remains 0.299s shy of Leclerc. That means he's then bested by Sainz, who is 0.187s down on his team-mate.
And still Leclerc goes quicker. His latest effort is a 1m12.092s, four tenths up on Verstappen. He tells his engineers that "I know where we can gain time, it's just not possible. We know why". Do we detect an air of resignation?
Will it soon be time for Aston to show its hand? Alonso and Stroll have yet to drive the softs in the session so far, and sit outside the top 10 as a result.
Verstappen then slots himself between Leclerc and Tsunoda into second, but is still 0.258s behind despite going purple in the first sector.
By: Autosport Staff
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