25/05/2013
NEWS STORY
Mat Coch writes:
Nico Rosberg carried on from where he left off on Thursday, setting a scintillating time to top the tables by more than half a second in a dramatic and action packed final practice session.
After a day of press and sponsor engagements yesterday, teams and drivers returned to the streets for the third practice session this morning as the weekend schedule returns to some form or normality. Monaco has always been unique; opening practice being held on a Thursday before a day off (historically because of a public holiday in the Principality) on Friday.
On Thursday Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton showed strong pace over a single lap, though the Ferrari pair of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa appeared to have the edge on longer runs. Kimi Raikkonen too looked comfortable while Red Bull seemed to struggle in comparison.
Under clear blue skies there was a rush down the pitlane when the lights turned green, most drivers heading out on to the Monaco streets to complete installation laps. In the distance clouds threatened, a strong breeze edged them ever closer to the twisty Monaco circuit. Though not a threat for practice they look poised to arrive around qualifying.
As was the case in the opening two practice sessions, Esteban Gutierrez was an early feature on tracky, becoming the first man to set a time in the Saturday morning session with a genteel 1:26.137. The Mexican was one of the few drivers to remain on track after the initial installation laps, lowering his time to 1:20.264 on his second lap as he grew in confidence.
Daniel Ricciardo was the only driver not to take to the circuit, continuing to sit in the garage seven minutes after the pitlane opened. An oil leak in the Toro Rosso prevented the car from starting initially, though the team was soon able to fix it and have him out slightly later in the session.
With the track quiet Gutierrez continued circulating, bringing his lap time down to a 1:18.499 – some four seconds off what Rosberg set on Thursday but at least faster than the GP2 drivers were setting. Indeed race pace is expected to be somewhere close to those set by the sport’s feeder series. Caterham drivers Giedo Van Der Garde and Charles Pic's opening laps of 1:21.997 and 1:22.583 respectively were in the region of those set by Sam Bird in the GP2 feature race on Friday, a race the Mercedes reserve driver dominated.
Ahead of the Caterham duo Gutierrez was still turning laps; after eight tours he'd knocked some nine seconds off his opening lap time.
Van der Garde and Pic, also still circulating, lowered their lap times to within a second of those set by Gutierrez as Ricciardo finally emerged, some twelve minutes into the sixty-minute session. Ricciardo's Toro Rosso teammate Jean-Eric Vergne was also on track, setting an initial lap of 1:21.967 on a set of the soft Pirelli tyres.
A quarter of an hour into the session all the drivers had been on track, though only half a dozen had set times as most chose to sit in the garage and tweak their set ups ahead of a qualifying simulation run later in the session.
Gutierrez was finally bumped from the top of the timing screens first by Vergne on a 1:16.946 and then Nico Hulkenberg, who demoted his Sauber teammate to third with a 1:17.211. Hulkenberg went one better on the following lap, setting a 1:16.371 to set the fastest time of the session on a set of soft compound tyres.
Both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber took to the track after twenty minutes, desperately looking for pace after a slow Thursday. The pace wasn't immediately present for Vettel, who set a 1:16.582 while Webber was some seven-tenths of a second off with a 1:17.210. Vettel was out on the supersoft tyres, while Webber ran on the softs, Red Bull running a split programme with its two drivers.
Traffic was beginning to become an issue with a number of cars circulating; Sergio Perez was delayed after the McLaren driver had set the fastest first sector of all.
Vettel however did get a clear lap, setting a 1:15.791 to go fastest on what appeared to be a qualifying simulation. It was only narrowly faster than Pastor Maldonado who set a time just seven hundredths slower in the unfancied Williams.
Williams, which is yet to score a point in 2013, had been testing alternate front wings on Thursday between Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas' cars, the pair some way down the order. Maldonado's lap was therefore an encouraging sign for the Grove team.
Red Bull however soon went better. Vettel lowered his own time by half a second while Mark Webber went second fastest with a time of 1:15.714.
With thirty-five minutes left of the session, drivers began to focus on qualifying, with Fernando Alonso attacking the Monaco street just as Romain Grosjean was wheeled back into the garage with a flat left-rear tyre.
Replays showed the Frenchman clipped the barrier at the Nouvelle Chicane at the harbour front, the team examining the suspension closely for any damage.
On track Rosberg popped into third place about half a second off the pace of Vettel with a 1:15.773 before improving to a 1:15.288 on a ten-lap old set of supersoft tyres.
A sluggish lap from Felipe Massa at the halfway point of the session finally saw the Brazilian set a time, having only taken to the track for a brace of installation laps in the first half hour. The Ferrari driver appeared to be gradually building up confidence and speed.
Meanwhile Hamilton confirmed the Mercedes pace with a 1:15.480 to go third behind Vettel and Rosberg, while Maldonado remained in an impressive fifth place. Rosberg marginally improved on his time to come to within two hundredths of Vettel, before setting the fastest first sector of the session. Traffic however ruined the lap, slowing at Tabac to allow Nico Hulkenberg to overtake.
A heavy incident for Felipe Massa saw him knock both front wheels of his Ferrari with damage at both ends of the car. The Brazilian hopped out of the stricken car; front and rear wings missing.
It looked to be a mechanical failure, Massa locking both front wheels in the braking zone at Ste Devote and going straight into the barrier on the approach to the corner. He then bounced down the barriers before coming to rest in the escape road.
A brake or steering issue was suspected, the incident occurring at a point on the circuit where driver error seems difficult to fathom. Whatever the cause it left an uphill task for the Ferrari mechanics with qualifying starting just ninety minutes after the session, and Massa's car on the back of a truck on the outside of the circuit.
The red flag was understandably shown, the circuit reopening with some nineteen minutes left on the clock.
Thursday's ‘victim’, Romain Grosjean, remained at the foot of the timing screens having completed just four laps. After losing much of the second session on the first day of practice it was far from an ideal lead up to qualifying.
Adrian Sutil then joined Massa and Grosjean as a victim of the unyielding Monaco streets as he slid off at Massenet, losing the rear end of the car and sliding into the outside barrier. The German had just bolted a set of supersoft tyres and looked to be winding up for a qualifying simulation. The ever efficient Monaco marshals soon had the stricken Force India clear without the need for a red flag.
Vergne was then spotted in the escape road at Mirabeau, missing his braking marker before reversing back on to the circuit under yellow flags. On the following lap he took to the escape road at the Nouvelle chicane.
It was a busy ten minutes or so leaving just a handful of minutes for teams to complete their qualifying runs, Raikkonen setting the third fastest time despite making a small mistake at Tabac. The Finn had been quick on Thursday, the fleet footed Lotus showing itself to be one of the favourites come Sunday afternoon.
By contrast it looked to be another difficult day at the office for McLaren, Sergio Perez and Jenson Button mired at the wrong end of the top ten; Perez ninth on a 1:15.966 and Button two places further back on a 1:15.976.
It was Rosberg however that threw the gauntlet at the feet of his rivals, setting a time of 1:14.378, despite brushing the wall at Portier on his way to the fastest lap of the weekend. Grosjean was the first to respond though he was still some way off Rosberg's blistering time, setting a 1:15.051. Raikkonen meanwhile was busy finding reverse after missing his braking marker at Mirabeau.
Gutierrez, who had been busy on circuit early in the session, radioed back to his team that he was the latest to brush the wall, this time with the front left. It was not enough to interrupt his session, the Sauber driver pushing on to set the seventeenth fastest time with a 1:16.712.
Just four minutes remained as Sebastian Vettel headed out for his final qualifying simulation, told by his engineer Rocky that his tyres weren't up to temperature. On his flying lap the world champion set the fastest first sector, a personal best in the second before having to abandon the lap after catching Grosjean and Bianchi on the exit to the Swimming Pool.
Further back Ricciardo was setting personal best sectors, though he found himself in just thirteenth place, teammate Vergne soon demoting him to fourteenth with a 1:15.976.
The session was then red flagged again, this time by Romain Grosjean who for the second time this weekend clouted the barrier at Ste Devote. The Frenchman looked to have been distracted by Lewis Hamilton emerging from the pits, missing his braking marker before losing the back end of the car. The impact knocked the left rear off the car before it bounced across to the inside of the circuit, hitting the barrier on the other side.
Replays suggest Grosjean swerved towards Hamilton as the Mercedes driver exited the pits, taking an unusual line into the first turn. It means another busy rebuild for the Lotus team ahead of the qualifying session, with very little time to do it in. Force India will also be busy but faced nothing like the work Ferrari has ahead of it.
It left Nico Rosberg at the head of the class for the third consecutive session, and by a worrying margin. The Mercedes has been quick over a single lap, making the German marque a strong favourite for pole position in the afternoon qualifying hour.