The last free practices of the Monaco GP are difficult to read: the traffic, the interruptions and the accidents widen the differences between pilots. But the times from Friday were not improved, so the records from Saturday morning are imprecise and do not have to explain what will happen in a few hours, in the most important classification of the season (4:00 p.m., Dazn ). Verstappen was the fastest glued to Pérez (0.073) and Stroll planted Aston Martin third (0.166), glued to the two Red Bulls. Alonso (14th, 0.921) was missing because he ran out of good laps in the final phase of practice. The fourth half was signed by Sainz (0.485) with a certain advantage over Leclerc (7th, 0.699).
But the session did not flow, Magnussen’s accident plus breakdown interrupted the last third and Lewis Hamilton’s crash ended it early. The Englishman (8th, 0.710) lost the Mercedes on the way to Loews, very low speed but with damage to the aerodynamics of the W14. It is not common to see the seven-time world champion make a mistake of this type in free practice.
The major aero improvements for now are evolutions, without last names, that will have to earn the title of improvements. In any case, nothing is now revealed in Mercedes: Hamilton’s car was craned through the skies of Monte Carlo in a comical image, to rescue it from the asphalt, with the team’s engineers and mechanics tense from the garage. It was the most interesting thing in the morning. But now comes the most spectacular classification of the season.