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Team Summary:
The final hour Saturday practice for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix would get
underway the usual reluctance of the teams to come out. Earlier in the day
the track had been wet but had dried out prior to the session start. With
five minutes completed Raikkonen would be the first out running on the soft
tyre. He was joined by Giovinazzi on the same tyre. More drivers would start
to come out as Raikkonen set a 1m:24.937. Both Haas cars were out on the
hard with Ricciardo on the soft. A 1M;14.293 from Raikkonen as we now had
both Ferrari's running. The first of the Williams was out on the medium
followed by the second Williams also running on the medium as we has Leclerc
quickest only to see Sainz fastest with a 1m:12.533. The Williams drivers
were currently 12th and 14th while at the front Giovinazzi was third behind
the Ferrari's followed by Norris, Perez, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Ricciardo,
Gasly and Stroll tenth.
But Verstappen would jump up to second splitting the Ferrari's. Perez was
now fourth followed by Bottas and Giovinazzi. Hamilton was now fifth ahead
of Norris and Bottas seventh. The Williams drivers were 14th and 18th with
thirty six minutes remaining. Verstappen was now fastest with a 1m:11.485
but we would again see a Ferrari quickest with Sainz setting a 1m:11.452.
Thirty minutes remaining and Sainz was quickest from Verstappen, Leclerc,
Hamilton, Bottas, Perez, Norris, Giovinazzi, Gasly and Stroll. Of the top
ten only Perez and Gasly were on the medium tyre. The Williams drivers were
currently 18th and 19th and both back in the pits. This would become 18th
and 20th with just under half the session remaining.
Both Williams drivers would return for their first runs on the soft tyre.
After their first times they were 16th and 18th but the session would be
stopped when Nicholas was to crash his Williams ending his session. With the
restart there would be a rush of drivers coming out all on the soft tyre and
ten minutes remaining. One of those was the remaining Williams. At the front
on newer soft tyres Verstappen would set a 1m:11.294 to be quickest. The
Mercedes were currently sixth and seventh but Bottas would move up to fourth.
But the session would again be red flagged with Schumacher crashing out of
Casino Square. This was a shame for him as he was 14th prior to his crash.
With the end of the session the order was Verstappen from Sainz, Leclerc,
Bottas, Perez, Norris, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Gasly, and Vettel tenth. The
Williams drivers were b17th and 18th with George ahead of Nicholas and with
a damaged Williams. Qualifying is going to be difficult as they are really
not showing any pace that would see them move into Q2. Not what I would
imagine the team would have wanted to see on this 750th weekend.
Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would come out on the medium and would set a 1m:18.522 seeing him
currently 12th. A 1m:14.695 and he was now 9th. He would drop to 14th but a
1m:13.742 would see Nicholas now 12th. He would drop to 13th and then 15th.
He would pit now 18th but with a short stop would return now on the soft
tyre. A 1m:13.475 from Nicholas and he was now 16th. But for Nicholas his
session would come to an end as he crashed just after making a mistake
hitting the barrier which sent his car flying across the track and into the
barrier taking off his front wing and damaging his right front suspension.
This was the end of his session which was not the best of preparations for
qualifying. Nicholas would drop to 18th with the end of the session.
George Russell:
George would make his first appearance using the medium. He would set a
1m:22.210 to be eighth. But a 1m:16.881 would see him sixth dropping to
eighth again. This would become 13th even with a 1m:15.277. But as more laps
came George would set a 1m:14.554 to move ahead of his team-mate if only
briefly. He would drop to 18th still on the medium tyre. He would pit
briefly remaining on the medium. But was quickly back into the pits with
half the session remaining. He would drop to 20th and slowest. But with
twenty five minutes left in the session he was back out on the soft tyre.
His first laps would see him back off but his next lap was a 1m:13.695 to be
19th. A better lap would see George set a 1m:13.545 but this would only see
him 18th. With the restart George would return and a 1m:13.447 from George
saw him only 16th. He would drop to 17th one place ahead of team-mate
Nicholas. George would pit after a five lap run as the session came to an
end. |
