It is Saturday at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Welcome to the largest classification session of Formula 1 of the season.
Here are four big questions before the rating.
Is Ferrari the team to win?
On Thursday ahead of the 2024 United States Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc stopped in the hospitality space of Ferrari and told the media gathered, including SB nationThat were not the “favorites” to win in Austin.
Three days later, Leclerc won the United States Grand Prix.
Yes, another battle lasts between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen opened by Leclerc, but could it be something similar in Monaco? Last year’s winner of the Monaco Grand Prix he told the Press Conference of the FIA of the FIA of the media gathered that his possibilities of a repeated performance were “low” and that “on paper, it will be difficult.”
Then he came out and overcome the time sheets in FP1 and FP2. And with Lewis Hamilton ending third in FP3, it seems that Ferrari could have something working at this time.
Can you keep that on Saturday?
Leclerc was not yet convinced.
“Maybe a little less convinced, but I am not convinced otherwise,” he told the official F1 channel when asked if he was still convinced that his chans were low. “On Friday in Monaco it is always very special, very specific, I think everyone is taking their reference a bit. It is too early to feel very positive about the weekend.”
Or will this other show “M&M”?
Of course, the three best pilots in the classification of the pilot championship are in the mixture.
Oscar Piasstri, who leads the pilot championship, was fifth in FP1 and second in FP2. While Piastri suffered an incident in Sainte Devote in the second practice session, running towards the barrier, the McLaren driver said that he and the team were “decent” when talking after the session.
The teammate Lando Norris, who is 13 points behind Piastri in the pilot championship, was also the upper part of the time sheets, finishing third in FP1 and fourth on FP2. Norris was also constantly strong in the second half of the return. Duration FP1 His second half of the sector was the second best, and his third time in the sector was the fastest of any person. Then, in FP2, his second half of the sector was again the second best, along with his third time in the sector was also the second fastest.
Norris called him a “solid” beginning for the weekend.
Then there is Max Verstappen, who enters the Monaco Grand Prix after a victory in Isola, who took him to 22 Piastri points in the classification of the pilot championship. While he finished second for Leclerc on FP1, he slid to the tenth in FP2.
Verstappen was satisfied with FP1, but noted that some equilibrium changes that the team made before FP2 can have some exaggeration.
“In terms of how we are looking for the weekend, I think FP1 was quite positive, but then we made some changes for FP2,” Verstappen said. “We looked how far we could take our balance and I think we exaggerated it a little and I couldn’t attack the corners as I would have liked. We were throwing a lot of rhythm and return time.”
Even so, we have seen Verstappen from the rhythm on Friday, and then snatch the pole position on Saturday, already this season.
I would expect the three to be in the fight as Q3 comes to an end.
Does VCarb have something under the sleeves?
Before the Monaco Grand Prix, both Lawson and Isack Hadjar talked about having their first taste of the Monaco Grand Prix as a F1 driver.
Do not look now, but both pilots seemed to live up to the challenge, even if Hadjar had to deal with some moments that left him “scared.”
After Hadjar finished 13th in FP1 and Lawson finished 17th, both drivers promoted a big step forward on FP2, with Lawson finishing fifth and Hadjar Sixth.
That came with Hadjar suffering two different incidents, first a blow to the inner corner in Nouvelle Chicane, followed by a hard brush with the barrier in Sainte Devote.
“Both boys are reasonably happy with the car; we have some more things to look tonight, and I can make the car balance more pleasant,” said racing director Alan remains.
They can be married, they monitor today today.
Will the new two stop rule impact the qualification?
With the FIA imposing a new two -stop mandate for the Monaco Grand Prix, we could be seeing its effects.
That could continue with the duration of Saturday the largest classification session of the year.
As Simone Berra, Pirelli chief engineer, said several drivers turned to medium and/or hard duration of Friday’s dual practice sessions. “In addition, with the special sports regulation in its place for this weekend, the choice of tires for the decision session of the network will have a significant coup effect for the race. For example, today 13 pilots of seven teams chose to use a set of lasting, so only one left for Sunday,” Berra said in the media report after the Pirelli practice. “Five drivers, (Piastri, Norris, Hamilton, Hadjar and Lawson), used a set of media in each of the two sessions.”
Will drivers see media and save some SOFTS for a period on Sunday? The two stop mandate could open the door.
There may also be the lack of trust we are seeing of some drivers in the soft complex C6.
“It was important for us to see how C6 worked after he debuted in Icola and we can say that, here too, the indications we saw last week also confirmed today,” Berra added. “The softer tire in the 2025 range is slightly faster than the C5 and, with one or two spinning turns, recover much of its performance.
“It was also clear that, since it exhibits the features of an extremely soft compound, drivers could a little less safe when trying to push for a while from the first flying round. Qualification.”
Although we normally monitor the tires on racing day, the mandatory rule of two stops, along with the lack of confidence in the C6, could make the tires a great story on Saturday in Monaco.
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