The Prema of Gabriele Miní took pole in the 2024 F3 Monaco Quali, cementing his name at the top of the timesheets and in prime position for the second year in a row. The Alpine Academy junior will be hoping to follow on from 2023 with another feature race win around the Streets of Monaco.
Due to the nature of the Circuit De Monaco, the Formula 3 cars are split into two groups for qualifying: Group A is formed of the cars with even race numbers, and Group B those with odd numbers on their cars.
A random ballot was raised to determine which group would take to the circuit first, with it decided that the even numbered cars would set their times first.
Monaco brings a very low energy surface, with low tyre degradation its important to build the cars up. The emphasis is on managing tyre temperatures, getting up to speed quickly but without overheating the rear tyres.
How it happened
Group A
Luke Browning led the pack away in their warm up laps, dodging and weaving to generate tyre temperature whilst controlling the field and his place at the front. He set the pace early but was bested by the Trident of Leonardo Fornaroli who put in a 1:25.9s.
Now that all drivers are up to speed, the times came thick and fast with purple sectors being traded throughout the field of 15 drivers.
With 6 minutes to go, Browning took a giant leap forward, taking P1 with a lap 1.4s clear of Fornaroli; his intentions clear and setting a warning for the other drivers.
Oliver Goethe took a heavy hit with the inside right tyre at the swimming pool chicane, but lucky for him the car remained intact and he could go on his way.
“Car is ok but I touched the wall quite hard!”
Final laps
On his final lap, Browning was looking to improve and secure provisional pole. Pushing hard for his final effort he made a costly mistake, overdoing it in the swimming pool chicane and scraping along the wall at the exit. His lap was ruined as he crawled into the pits and all he could do was wait for the other drivers to displace him from the top.
In the dying seconds Miní steals top spot from Browning, being the only driver to make it into the 1:23s and over two tenths clear of his Hitech rival.
Group B
With the information from the Group A drivers, the warmups were near identical to those who went out first.
With 12 minutes to go, the first competitive laps were being put in with the times steadily dropping.
It wasn’t long before the red flag was flown as rookie driver James Hedley locked up into Turn 1, hitting the barriers and losing his front wing. He struggled to get going but was prevented from taking further part in the session due to a new regulation introduced to stop drivers benefitting from causing a red flag.
After the debris was cleared, the field were forced to redo their warm up programmes, having lost significant time in the earlier part of the 16-minute session.
Dino Beganovic was the first driver to set the pace with a solid 1:25.5s, something to build on in the coming minutes.
Trident driver Sami Megeutounif comes to Monaco after his debut win in Imola, full of confidence and looking for a strong qualifying result to carry through the weekend. He is pushing hard to catch Beganovic, but Christian Mansell swoops in to take provisional pole from them both.
Final Laps
With two minutes to go, the top three need to find over a second to challenge Miní but they are all finding big improvements in their final attempts as they are all separated by almost nothing.
But the 2024 F3 Monaco Quali would end short as another red flag is flown before any of them can reach the line to post their times. Beganovic, Linblad and Meguetounif were forced to slow before the line, securing a front row start for Mansell and handing pole to Gabriele Miní from group A.
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