Saturday 23 May 2015

Vettel leads the way in final practice as Raikkonen brings out the red flag

Embedded image permalink
(Scuderia Ferrari via Twitter)

Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ended the final session ahead of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix in first place ahead of the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Vettel set a fastest time of 1m 16.143s set on the Super soft tyre.

Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was fourth fastest 0.977S behind Vettel. Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz was fifth fastest 1.113s behind Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in sixth place despite crashing just after T1 after reporting a puncture. The Finn’s SF15-T brought out the red flags and it is unclear whether or not he will have to undergo a gearbox change ahead of qualifying, should that be the case Raikkonen will be handed a five place grid penalty.

Daniil Kvyat was seventh fastest in the second Infiniti Red Bull Racing car, ending the session 1.328s behind Vettel.

It was a great session for McLaren Honda’s Jenson Button who finished the session in eighth place in the MP4-30 with a time 1.624s behind Vettel and just ahead of Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen.

The Lotus F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean rounded out the top ten in his E23 Hybrid with a time that was 1.663s behind Vettel.

The Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s Sergio ‘Checco’ Perez and Nico Hulkenberg ended the session in eleventh and thirteenth place respectively with the Lotus F1 Team’s Pastor Maldonado splitting the pair in 12th place.

Fernando Alonso was 14th fastest for McLaren Honda ending the morning 2.054s behind Vettel. The Spaniard was just ahead of Williams Martini Racing Team duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa. The Sauber F1 Team’s Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson were 17th and 18th fastest while the Manor Marussia F1 Team duo of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi were 19th and 20th rounding out the time sheets.

© Ben Johnston 2015

No comments:

Post a Comment