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The 2023 F1 Monaco GP FP3 ended with a Red Bull 1-2 with Max Verstappen leading the charts. In a race weekend where the Austrian team has had to truly marshal everything in place slowly but steadily, there seems to be a sense of deja vu as to how the rest of the weekend could go.
In a session that saw Lewis Hamilton of all people crash his Mercedes, there were quite a few interesting takeaways.
We had both Red Bull drivers neck and neck at the top of the standings. We had a harrowing gap between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. To add to all of this, we had a session where the gaps were far too small between everybody.
In the last 60 minutes of running before the all-important qualifying session, what did we learn? Let's take a look.
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2023 F1 Monaco GP FP3: Key learnings
#1. Max Verstappen and Red Bull have found that 'something more'
Max Verstappen alluded to the media on Friday that Red Bull might need to find something more in order to cement his charge to pole position for the 2023 F1 Monaco GP. If we take a look at the kind of session the driver and the team had, it's safe to say that they have found it.
The Red Bull has been a markedly different car when it comes to optics in the last couple of days. In FP1, Max Verstappen was all over the place and had no confidence in the car. Fast forward to FP3 and it does appear that he has the edge over everybody else in the field. Verstappen heads into the 2023 F1 Monaco GP qualifying as the favorite even though the contenders are lurking in the shadows.
#2. Ferrari has some work to do
Ferrari came into FP3 with a car that might just have its power unit turned down compared to yesterday. The two drivers were slower across the track and visibly struggled if we compared them to Red Bull drivers. To add to this, the problem when it comes to the lack of speed is deeper than just the power unit modes as the drivers appear to be struggling with the setup.
The fact that a driver like Charles Leclerc is being forced to lift at the swimming pool means a compromised setup that could hurt the team. It might be too early to count Ferrari out, but the team has some work to do before qualifying.
#3. Alonso is a contender for pole but Mercedes is too far behind
Fernando Alonso was unable to put his lap together later in the sessions but he is surely one of the drivers that would be in contention for pole position. In all of this though, Mercedes might be looking at a not-so-productive weekend. The car is just not on the level of the top 3 and seems to be a few tenths behind.
To make things worse, if these drivers are unable to hook the perfect lap there's a live threat from both the Alpine drivers and Lando Norris just waiting to pounce. Toto Wolff might not be too happy with how this weekend is going to turn out for the German team.
#4. Lando Norris looks set to lead the midfield
The F1 Monaco GP has become an annual race where Lando Norris serves as a reminder to everyone watching the sport of his talents. The last two races on this track have seen him completely dominate Daniel Ricciardo. In both those seasons, he ended up lapping his teammate, arguably the ultimate stamp of authority if there ever is in a teammate rivalry.
In the 2023 F1 Monaco GP, Norris is doing it to his rookie teammate Oscar Piastri. Considering the hype around Oscar, being six-tenths down on your teammate is shocking, to say the least, and one has to wonder whether it is McLaren being the best car in the midfield in Monaco or is it Norris transcending what the car has to offer.
#5. Small gaps are going to have major repercussions
The gap from P5 to P9 in the timesheets is one-tenth of a second. Expanding it a little further, the gap from P5 to P12 is around two-tenths of a second. the 2023 F1 Monaco GP is going to feature plenty of drivers pushing their cars to the extreme because the gaps are just too small between all of them.
In all of this, we are going to see quite a few crashes but more than that, we are going to see drivers making a difference. A gap of a tenth is going to decide multiple grid slots at the 2023 F1 Monaco GP this weekend and this is surely going to be very exciting.
