RaceFans Round-up: Ferrari “ones to beat” in Monaco

In brief

Ferrari will be “ones to beat” in Monaco – Perez

Despite his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappenwinning last weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, Sergio Perez expects that Ferrari will be favourites for victory in Monaco this weekend.

“I expect a very fast Ferrari,” Perez told the official F1 channel. “I think they will be the fastest. They’ll be the ones to beat.

“I think if we are able to get a perfect Q3, we can give them a run. Also McLaren will be very strong, and you never know all the other teams. I think it’s going to be very close in between a lot of cars. There will be some surprises with few other cars because Monaco’s characteristics are very different to anything else. Given how close the margins have been I think in qualifying you can have a couple of cars up there.

Martins tops wet F2 session

Alpine junior driver Victor Martins was the fastest driver in a very wet Thursday F2 practice session ahead of today’s qualifying.

The sole practice session of the weekend for Formula 2 drivers was run entirely in the wet following rain falling in the earlier F3 session. Martins’ best time of a 1’39.237 was six tenths of a second quicker than Dennis Hauger, while championship leader Zane Maloney was down in 17th. Imola sprint race winner Franco Colapinto crashed out of the session after finding the barriers at Rascasse.

F3 practice disrupted by crashes

Gabriele Mini – another Alpine junior – set the quickest time in the F3 practice session which was hit by rain and three separate red flag stoppages.

The Prema driver set the best time of a 1’27.400 in the early phase of the session before rain fell. Most of the field were denied a decent opportunity to complete meaningful dry running as the red flags came out three times for drivers in the barriers at Sainte Devote: Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Callum Voisin in the dry, before Sami Meguetounif slid into the wall as the rain began to fall.

The final 25 minutes of the session were run in damp conditions, preventing anyone from beating Mini’s early best. F3 qualifying will take place this morning ahead of Saturday’s sprint race.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Porsche commit to Formula E’s ‘Gen4’

Porsche have become the latest manufacturer to sign up to the series into the introduction of its next-generation…