Kimi Antonelli topped the final practice session of the weekend ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Improvement for Mercedes
Throughout FP1 and FP2 yesterday, both Mercedes drivers seemed to be on the back foot compared to teams like Ferrari and Red Bull. However, in today’s session Kimi Antonelli really found his groove and put in some great lap times, finishing the session in P1. His teammate George Russell led the session for a little while but ultimately ended up in P4. If they continue on like this, then qualifying should hopefully be a positive session for the Mercedes duo.
Ferrari continues to impress
Despite neither driver having the fastest time of the session, both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton continued to show great promise with their pace. Ferrari were showing much improvement towards the end of the session, however a red flag hindered their progress. In the four minutes left in the session after the red flag ended, Leclerc reported that his breaks ‘felt horrendous’, so hopefully Ferrari can get that checked and fixed before qualifying. On the whole, on a weekend that Leclerc cares about more than any other, Ferrari’s practice results are looking more than promising.
Bearman crash causes red flag
Haas’ Oliver Bearman came flying towards the Massenet corner of the track and in doing so he lost control of the car and slammed into the wall. Luckily Bearman wasn’t injured, but the incident brought out a red flag for roughly 10 minutes while debris was swept up and the barrier checked.
Problems among the rest of the grid
Many drivers had near misses with the wall at various points during the session, including both Red Bulls and the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson, who thankfully managed to avoid an incident. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto clipped the barrier at the hairpin after spinning but managed to get going again. Both Cadillac drivers suffered from braking issues throughout the session, very similar to what caused Pérez to retire from practice yesterday.
Feature image courtesy of Formula 1