Italy - EL3: Mercedes shows its nose before qualifying

A few hours before the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell dominated the third free practice session, ahead of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. Given the gaps, the quest for pole promises to be extremely competitive.

Published on 31/08/2024 à 13:39

Comment on this article! ¹

Italy – EL3: Mercedes shows its face before qualifying

Lewis Hamilton dominates the third free practice session. © Florent Gooden / DPPI

Under the Italian sun, the ten teams continued their work at three and a half hours of the qualifying session. After having focused on the long stints the day before, we saw more of the dragsters on the grid preparing for a one-lap effort in preparation for the Q1, Q2, Q3 triptych scheduled for 16 p.m. After a first quarter of an hour where only three drivers deigned to stick their noses outside, the drivers signed forty minutes of intense work, interspersed with no red flags.

In the game of the best trick, these are the Mercedes who grabbed the first two places of the session. Lewis Hamilton indeed dominated George Russell on the clock, ahead of the tifosi's darling Charles Leclerc, which points to only 109/1000ths. Behind, the two McLaren are in ambush and this little train is only 145/1000ths behind, which promises a very tight qualification, with potentially four manufacturers in the match.

Max Verstappen is not so far behind on the clock (6th), but the Dutchman has complained a lot about his car for an hour. First when he went a little wide at the exit of Lesmo 2, flirting with the gravel, before slipping into his radio at the end of the session that the car was not turning well in the slow and medium-speed bends. There will be a few hours of work left to Red Bull in order to resolve its balance issues.

The speed ofAlexander albon is no longer a surprise at Monza, but the Thai driver surprised everyone by dominating the timesheets for a good quarter of an hour. He was finally overtaken by the big guns of the championship, finishing his session in 8th place. Note the excellent session of Franco Colapinto, the replacement for Logan sargeant, author of the 9th fastest time, only 3/10ths behind his teammate.

As for Alpine, Pierre Gasly signed the 14th time, still one second behind the reference time, whileEsteban Ocon is three positions further. Note that Kevin Magnussen was ordered to stop on the track by its engineers after the checkerboard was shaken due to a problem noted on its Haas. His teammate Nico Hulkenberg closed the top 10 ahead of Fernando Alonso. See you at 16 p.m. for the qualifying session.