Italy – Free Practice 3: Lewis Hamilton continues Mercedes’ domination
Lewis Hamilton was imperious in the third free practice session at Monza. He beat Nico Rosberg by almost four tenths and Sebatian Vettel by nine tenths. Romain Grosjean was soon at fault and was only able to complete four laps.
For this final practice session in Monza, the weather conditions are perfect, as they have been since the start of the weekend: 27°C in the air and 21°C on the track. At the green light, the drivers are not rushing onto the track. It is worth noting that, based on the data collected yesterday, Pirelli has decided to lower the minimum pressures of its tires, which should be well-received by the drivers.
We must therefore wait almost eight minutes to see the first timed lap, achieved by Esteban Gutierrez (1:24.721), but it is quickly followed and beaten by his teammate at Haas, Romain Grosjean (1:24.463). Nevertheless, the Mexican regains his place right afterwards (1:24.036).
Nevertheless, the French driver will see his session interrupted early. Indeed, he spins in the second chicane of the circuit and ends up stuck in the gravel trap. He is therefore unable to rejoin the track and will have to be content with just four laps completed during this morning session. The virtual safety car procedure is thus implemented while his car is evacuated.
At the resumption of hostilities, Daniel Ricciardo takes the best time (1:23.709), ahead of his teammate (1:24.002). But Lewis Hamilton strikes hard on his first lap, opening a gap of eight-tenths (1:22.856) even though he is only on softs and not super softs.
Nico Rosberg is disturbed in his first stint by a Max Verstappen on a deceleration lap and thus very slow on the trajectory. That’s why the German is more than four-tenths (1:22.333) behind Lewis Hamilton.
VES on a slow lap + ROS on a flying one = all a bit too cosy 😳 #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 #FP3 pic.twitter.com/0rdSXblnA3
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 3, 2016
Sebastian Vettel is thus able to slip between the two Mercedes men but by using the super softs (1:23:312).
At mid-session, the top 10 are Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Räikkönen, Ricciardo, Bottas, Verstappen, Gutierrez, Grosjean, Button while Ocon and Nasr have yet to set a time. Despite having a better top speed, Sergio Perez is only 19th. It’s not much better for his teammate as Nico Hülkenberg is in 17th position.
A few moments later, it’s Max Verstappen’s turn to be surprised by a slower car. Thus, he has to go very wide out of the Ascari chicane to avoid Kevin Magnussen’s Renault.
For his first stint on super softs, Nico Rosberg clearly shows the potential of these tires compared to the softs as he improves on his teammate’s time by four-tenths (1:22:401). However, Lewis Hamilton has no trouble responding and clocks a time of 1:22:008. While Nico Rosberg is thus relegated to nearly four-tenths behind, Sebastian Vettel, in third position, is 1.3 seconds behind!
The last quarter of an hour is devoted to the final simulations before qualification. We therefore witness some improvements, even though the Mercedes remain untouchable. Thus, Sebastian Vettel is able to do a little better, just going under the one-second gap (1:22.946, +0.938 compared to Lewis Hamilton).
The Williams are also able to climb up the hierarchy by positioning themselves 5th and 6th, while the Force India move up slightly with Sergio Perez (9th) and Nico Hülkenberg (11th).
From our special correspondent in Monza
