Chronicle of qualifications: an ad hoc format
In last year’s Monaco Grand Prix it was Gabriele Mini to conquer his second career pole after the one obtained on his debut in Bahrain. Today, one year after that result, the Prema rider from Palermo achieved the same result in a unique qualification of its kind for the format special, designed to avoid excessive traffic on the street circuit. In this case, this morning we saw two groups of 15 drivers for a duration of 16 minutes each, with Minì becoming poleman due to the best ride ever. The regulations then provide for 2nd place on the grid to be assigned to the fastest driver in the ‘slowest’ group, and so on alternating until the 30th and final position.
Minì immediately established himself in Group A, where the author of the best time actually seemed to be Luke Browning. However, in the final minutes of the session, the Englishman from Hitech made a mistake leaving the swimming pools while he was further improving his performance, impacting the barriers. An episode which was followed by the great performance of Minì, who finished with the best overall time 1:23.942, thus surpassing Browning. Fornaroli’s performance was also good, 3rd in group A, followed by Mari Boya, who also made an error just as he was improving his time. Different story in Group B, with two exhibitions of the Red flag: the first, 5 minutes into the session, for Hedley’s impact against the barriers at Sainte Devote, and the second at the end for a very similar error in the same point by Charlie Wurz. An episode, the latter, which decreed the early end of the session just under a minute from the checkered flag, with Christian Mansell author of the best time. The Australian, however, was unable to do better than Minì, which is why he will start from second position on the grid in Sunday’s Feature Race.
F3 / Monaco 2024, Qualifying: Group A
POS. | PILOT | TEAM |
1 | Gabriele Mini | Press |
2 | Luke Browning | Hitech |
3 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident |
4 | Mari Boya | Campos |
5 | Noel Leon | Van Amersfoort |
6 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART Grand Prix |
7 | Oliver Goethe | Campos |
8 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport |
9 | Santiago Ramos | Trident |
10 | Tommy Smith | Van Amersfoort |
11 | Piotr Wisnicki | Rodin |
12 | Max Esterson | Jenzer |
13 | Joshua Dufek | AIX Racing |
14 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | AIX Racing |
15 | Cian Shields | Hitech |
Group B
POS. | PILOT | TEAM |
1 | Christian Mansell | AIX Racing |
2 | Arvid Lindblad | Press |
3 | Dino Beganovic | Press |
4 | Joseph Loake | Rodin |
5 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport |
6 | Nikola Tsolov | ART Grand Prix |
7 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident |
8 | Nikita Bedrin | AIX Racing |
9 | Sophia Flörsch | Campos |
10 | Callum Voisin | Rodin |
11 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer |
12 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos |
13 | Alex Dunne | MP Motorsport |
14 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech |
15 | James Hedley | Jenzer |
Appointments with races
For reversing the starting grid during the race Sprintthe format provides for the assignment of the ‘pole’ to the 6th classified of the ‘slowest’ group, with Tsolov who will start like this in front of everyone Saturday 25 May at 10.45am. No change, however, for the Feature Race on Sundaywith the race starting at 08:00. Both events can be followed live on Sky Sports F1.
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