(Motorsport-Total.com) – After Friday’s best time, Carlos Sainz also set the best time in third practice on Saturday, in the final session before qualifying for the 2023 Italian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver (1:20.912min) was only bettered by Max Verstappen (Red Bull/+0.086), who had set the course until then, shortly before the finish.
Carlos Sainz recorded the best time in the third free practice session at Monza
A positive sign for Ferrari at home as Charles Leclerc was mainly competitive. After an excellent average time, Monaco made a small mistake driving his fastest lap, such that he eventually finished “only” fourth, 0.574 seconds behind Sainz.
Third was Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), who could be happy with the position, but grumbled on the radio that he couldn’t imagine catching Verstappen half a second before qualifying. After all: Mercedes’ improvement seems to be a testament to the good work Mick Schumacher has done on the simulator.
Schumacher led more than 100 laps in the Mercedes simulator in England on Friday evening after the second practice session, experimenting with different wing combinations and setups, and feeding in data collected by Hamilton and George Russell earlier at Monza. Meanwhile, Schumacher himself also arrived at Monza.
about this subject:
The result of the third free training
F1 Live Tape: Saturday at Monza
Info: Live broadcast on TV on Sky (View)
Verstappen had announced on Friday that he believed a big improvement could be made on Saturday, and he confirmed that in the third training session. Although lap times must be approached with caution, because the so-called “ATA” (“Alternate Alternate Allocation of Tires”) rule applies again at Monza, which could have a distorting effect.
Because “ATA” means drivers subsequently have to drive on hard tires in Q1, mediums in Q2, and softs in Q3. Then, some teams set their programs and did not collectively perform their fastest laps at the end of the third practice session, as is usually the case, but at different times and therefore with different levels of control.
Fifth was Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin / +0.799), ahead of George Russell (Mercedes / +0.818), Kevin Magnussen (+0.972) and Nico Hulkenberg (both Haas / +1.073). Alexander Albon (Williams/+1.142) and Sergio Perez (Red Bull/+1.280) round out the top ten. AlphaTauri rookie Liam Lawson finished twelfth, 1.384 seconds behind.
The negative surprise of the McLaren team was 14th (Oscar Piastri) and 17th (Lando Norris) in the third training session. However, says McLaren CEO Zak Brown in an interview sky: “I think we have to get to the third division. But the challenge for Red Bull will be more difficult than it has been in the last races.”
There was a tricky situation a quarter of an hour before the end of the session when Norris crashed into an Alfa Romeo driven by Juanio Zhu (.19/+1.830) and did not give way. Norris exasperated, “Why are people so stupid? Why can’t they look in the mirror?” And the reaction of the race control team was: black and white flag for Zhou, so a warning.
Where can you watch the Italian Grand Prix on TV?
For Formula 1 fans, the Formula 1 day ends on the Formula1.de YouTube channel. (Subscribe now for free!There is a live stream there on Saturday evening (probably from 10:30pm) with an analysis of the qualification, hosted by Kevin Shoren and editor-in-chief Christian Nimmervoll On site in Monza.
If you want to watch all sessions live, you can do so on Sky. In addition to qualifying and the race, Sky is also showing all free practice sessions in full. Qualifying starts on Saturday at 4:00 PM (preliminary reports from 3:30 PM), and the race begins on Sunday at 3:00 PM (preliminary reports from 1:30 PM).
Watching Sky is not only worthwhile because of the live streaming of the sessions, but also because of the panel of experts surrounding former Formula 1 driver Timo Glock, who not only comments at Monza, but also drives himself, as a guest rookie to the race. Porsche Supercup, also shown by Sky. (Announcement: Get up close with Sky, from the first free training session to the awards ceremony!)
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