The final practice session at Monza saw Russell take the top spot as Red Bull and Ferrari try to keep up.
It was a hot and hectic practice session full of mistakes and impeding but Mercedes remain the team to beat. They can’t relax quite yet though as Ferrari and Red Bull remain close behind. But it was a tough session and many drivers didn’t get the runs they wanted due to traffic, so the grid could be completely scrambled by the end of qualifying later today.
Green Light
It was a quiet start to FP3 as we saw only four drivers on track for the first ten minutes. As the Williams headed out, Alex Albon reported issues straight out of his garage. He reported the steering wheel was jammed and headed straight back to the pits. It was a quick fix and he headed back out 10 minutes into the session.
Every time we come to Monza we hear how important and powerful a tow is and that was repeated in this session. Multiple drivers got on the radio expressing disinterest in free air laps. Race engineers were put to work as it was a busy track for most of the session and there were some traffic issues as teams tried to set up their cars to deliver a tow to each other.
Turn 2 Struggles
It’s not an unusual sight to see drivers struggle with Turns 1 and 2 at Monza and this year is no different. In this session there were many trips across the apex of Turn 1 and into the Turn 1 run off area.
Even when drivers got through cleanly, nearly all were suffering oversteer in Turn 2. This also included a spin on the exit of the Rettifilo Chicane for Liam Lawson. It’s important that they perfect that sequence in this session as a mistake like that in qualifying could easily ruin their weekend.
McLaren’s Tough Weekend Continues
McLaren have been behind so far this weekend and this session saw much of the same. Oscar Piastri was unusually frustrated as he was rather blunt and sarcastic on the team radio. His frustration is understandable as both him and Lando Norris sat nearly a second behind the leaders after the first runs. Piastri seemed to struggle more than Norris as we saw multiple failed laps from him, mostly in the first chicane.
Although driver mistakes definitely aren’t helping their lap time, it seems McLaren’s car just isn’t quick enough this weekend. The last sector seems especially tough for them as both drivers were a couple tenths behind the other front runners on their fastest laps.
The Fight For Pole
George Russell is by far the favourite for pole so far this weekend as he finished this session 0.200 seconds ahead of the pack. For the first time in a while he looks to have the upper hand over his championship rival and team mate. Antonelli can’t be counted out for a good qualifying but will start the race from the back regardless due to engine penalties.
Max Verstappen was slightly behind as he started this weekend late after sitting out FP1. Despite that, any issues he had in FP2 seem to have been addressed and handled as he finished the session P3 and 0.350 seconds behind Russell. It was a quieter session for him with only a few issues at Turn 1 along with everyone else.
The Ferraris can never be counted out at Monza and they are not out of the battle this year either. The team mates have exchanged the fastest times throughout the weekend and finished the session P2 with Hamilton while Leclerc sat in P6. They’ve shown they clearly have great pace throughout the weekend so far. Whether that pace is enough to beat Mercedes is uncertain but its certainly enough for the front row at least.
Formula 1 will return for Qualifying at 16:00 local time later today.
Image Credit: Formula 1 via X