Ferrari SF-23 struggles with bouncing: setup direction was too aggressive after Monaco FP2

Charles Leclerc: dissatisfying final practice session in Monaco
Just a few minutes after the green light at the end of the pit lane signaled the start of the third practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, it immediately became clear that the track was initially more slippery than yesterday, and the times reflected this feeling as they did not go beyond 1’15” at the beginning.

As the minutes passed, the track rubbered in, and there was no way to know the new “limit” because towards the end, just as the drivers were about to set their best sectors due to the exponentially increasing grip, there was first a Virtual Safety Car due to Kevin Magnussen’s technical issue at Portier (caused by overheating after a long stint at Sainte-Devote) and then Lewis Hamilton’s mistake, which resulted in him hitting the barriers at Mirabeau, causing a red flag that essentially ended the session five minutes early.

The Red Bull cars dominated the session, with only 73 thousandths separating Max Verstappen from Sergio Perez. However, Fernando Alonso would have had the opportunity to mix things up in the end, given the mere tenth and a half that separated Lance Stroll from the Dutchman. The Ferrari cars did not shine, and in fact, Charles Leclerc even requested a change in setup after his first run.

The home driver, in fact, had quite a few difficulties taming his Ferrari SF-23 at the entrance of the first turn of the swimming pool section, where unlike his rivals, Charles Leclerc was forced to lift off the accelerator due to the bouncing of his car. The mechanics raised the rear of the car after the driver’s request, which was needed due to the extreme behavior of the car. However, due to traffic and a further loss of the rear end at the exit of the swimming pool chicane, Charles Leclerc was unable to complete a clean lap.

The Monegasque also stopped at the pits to slightly adjust the front wing. Therefore, it was a challenging FP3 for Charles Leclerc, who will enter Qualifying after finishing in seventh position, 699 milliseconds behind Max Verstappen, in a session that was made less indicative by a troubled end in terms of track activity.

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The major issue for the Maranello team is the jumping. The setup direction was too aggressive, and took away confidence above 200 km/h, which is fundamental in Monaco, which means there is a lot of work to do in a short amount of time before the qualifying session in Monte Carlo.