141 laps between the barriers

Scuderia Ferrari HP had a relatively trouble-free time of it, getting through all its Friday free practice programme for the Monaco Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in the second session, with Carlos Sainz sixth. The aim was to do as many laps as possible so that the drivers could get to grips with racing between the walls and that goal was achieved with 141 laps completed over the two sessions, during which the team was also able to evaluate all three tyre compounds. Charles was soon on the pace at his home track, while Carlos adopted a more progressive approach which will continue in tomorrow’s third free practice session that starts at 12.30 CEST, prior to qualifying at 16.00. 

FP1. In this session, the SF-24s ran the Hard and Medium tyres, the drivers setting their quickest times on the latter, Charles fifth fastest in 1’12”397, Carlos tenth with a 1’12”954. Charles did 33 laps, Carlos 35.

FP2. The session began at 17.00 and Charles and Carlos started off on the Medium tyre, with the Monegasque immediately getting up to speed with a 1’11”573, before switching to the Softs for the middle part of the session. On the softest compound, both drivers set their best times: 1’11”278 for Charles, to top the time sheet, and 1’11”962 for Carlos, good enough for sixth. In the last 20 minutes, they both ran with a heavy fuel load in race trim. Charles did 37 laps, one more than Carlos.

All in all, it seems that we have a good car for this track and I felt quite confident with it today. We have to keep that rhythm in place for FP3, because I may have taken a bit more risk today than others did, which paid off in terms of lap times, but the key here is to put it all together in qualifying when everyone starts really pushing the limits.

We did a good job overall and have to keep focusing on ourselves. It was a great feeling to be back in the car on the streets of my home town and to feel all the support, we will give it everything to have a good one tomorrow.

 

It was a challenging Friday for me. I struggled to find consistency in the car and played around quite a bit with the set-up.

For the last stint of the day, I was happier and the long run was positive. We will focus on carrying that feeling into tomorrow's practice as we prepare for qualifying.