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On the first day of track action
for the Monaco Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc made the most of being on home
turf. The Ferrari driver, who was born here and won last year at this track
was surprisingly quickest in both free practice sessions: 1’11”964 in the
first one and 1’11”355 in the second.
Clearly, Ferrari is looking
very competitive as Lewis Hamilton was third in the second session in
1’11”460, but the McLarens are up there too, with Oscar Piastri second just
38 thousandths slower than Leclerc, while Lando Norris is fourth in
1’11”677.
THE DAY ON TRACK:
All three compounds were used over the 120 minutes of practice. The Soft did
the most work (574 laps in total), followed by the Medium (427) and then the
Hard (221). 13 drivers have already used a set of C4 and will therefore only
have one available for Sunday’s race when, as per the modified Sporting
Regulations, two tyre changes will be obligatory.
Simone Berra: Chief Engineer:
“Quite a busy day with lots of laps and plenty of data gathered. It was
important for us to see how the C6 performed after it made its debut in
Imola and we can say that, here too, the indications we saw last week were
also confirmed today. The softest tyre in the 2025 range is slightly faster
than the C5 and, with one or two cool-down laps, recovers much of its
performance. It was also clear that, given that it exhibits the traits of an
extremely soft compound, the drivers might feel a little less confident with
it when trying to push for a time right from the first flying lap. This
could potentially open the door to the Medium also being used in one or more
segments of qualifying.
Furthermore, with the special sporting
regulation in place for this weekend, the choice of tyres for the
grid-deciding session will have a significant knock-on effect for the race.
For example, today 13 drivers from seven teams chose to already use a set of
Hards, thus having just one left for Sunday. Five drivers, (Piastri, Norris,
Hamilton, Hadjar and Lawson), used one set of Mediums in each of the two
sessions.
As is often the case in Monaco, the lap times came down bit
by bit with every passing lap, partly because the track is rubbering-in,
with a new surface from turn 12 to 3, but mainly because the drivers grow in
confidence. However, the times have been slightly slower than in the same
session last year, when once again Leclerc was fastest, in 1’11”278.
From a tyre wear perspective, we saw some graining on the Mediums at the end
of the long runs, something which is totally predictable at this track and
in these conditions."
FORMULA 2:
Three thousandths of a second: that was the difference between the times set
by Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) and Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) in
today’s qualifying: 1’21”142 for the Irishman, 1’21”145 for the Frenchman,
who were first in their respective groups, as here in Monaco the F2 drivers
are split into two sessions for qualifying.
The compounds chosen are
the softest in the Pirelli range, namely Soft and Supersoft. At a track that
has remained more or less unchanged for 70 years, running through the tight
and twisty city streets, qualifying plays a key role in deciding the outcome
of the races, especially given the difficulty in overtaking.
In last
year’s Feature Race, the majority of drivers opted to start on the Soft with
the aim of running as long a first stint as possible, thus delaying the
switch to the Supersoft. The softest compound required careful management
over its first few laps to avoid graining. In Monaco, there is always the
chance of a Safety Car and guessing the right window in which to pit can be
the key to winning. The 2024 race was a good example of this, when Zak
O’Sullivan pitted on the penultimate lap, taking advantage of a VSC.
FORMULA 3
Bulgaria’s Nikola Tsolov is the Monaco pole-sitter. The Campos Racing driver
set a best time of 1’24”882 in the first group, ahead of team-mate, the
Spaniard Mari Boya. The quickest in the second part of the session was
Poland’s Roman Bilinski (Rodin Motorsport) 1’25”332, third fastest overall.
The Soft is the compound chosen for Monaco. With this being the circuit
with the lowest average speed of the season, the softest compound in the
range experiences moderate degradation, as the forces exerted on the tyres
are minimal. Last year, graining began to make itself felt after around
eight laps, on both the front and rear axles, resulting in a drop in
performance, although it remained manageable.
As always in Monaco,
qualifying plays a crucial role, even if overtaking in F3 is slightly easier
than in F1 and F2, due to the cars being slightly smaller in size.
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