This weekend’s feeder series began early with free practice as Formula 3 returned for round 2 in Monaco. 

Red Flag & Added Time

Nael kicked off the session with a flying lap, but he was forced to back out when a red flag appeared on the course. Sadly, Wharton hit the barrier as he was exiting turn 14. Thankfully, he was able to get out of the car and was sent to the medical center to be checked. As marshals cleared the car, Gerrard Xie led the session with a lap time of 1:28.109, followed by Benavidas in second and Nael in third.

Race control extended the session by 15 minutes after the incident. Drivers were focused on recording personal bests as the session went back to green, with Ugochukwu gaining on race leader Xie. Xie resumed his flying laps with a time of 1:27.249, while Benavidas, not to be outdone, set a purple sector, but it wasn’t enough.

Flying Lap Battles

As the clock ticked down, the lap times became faster and faster, with Gladysz briefly taking the lead before Badoer took it with a 1:27.055 lap time. Badoer, Gladysz, and Giusti were close behind, but Del Pino set a time of 1:26.482, bumping him down before he could get too comfortable.

With 10 minutes remaining, traffic continued to gather as Slater, who had initially been running P3, joined the built-up traffic in the last sector, nearly colliding with Nakamura. Nael took the quickest lap with Ugochukwu in P3, as Slater split the Campos teammates, rocketing into P2.

Nael improved across the line, setting a 1:25.794 as the session came to a finish with the checkered flag. The remaining top ten are as follows: Slater P2, Ugochukwu P3, Del Pino P4, Clerot P5, Sharp P6, Rivera P7, Kato P8, Stromsted P9, and Enzo Deligny P10.