Kimi Antonelli ends Ferrari dominance in Monaco Grand Prix FP3 after Oliver Bearman red flag crash

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Kimi Antonelli topped the timings during FP3 for the Monaco Grand Prix, putting an end to Ferrari’s strong start in Monte Carlo.

Ferrari dominated Friday’s practice sessions, with Charles Leclerc having topped FP1 before teammate Lewis Hamilton went fastest in the second session.

Elsewhere, it was a challenging start to the day for Cadillac. Early in the session, Valtteri Bottas reported brake cooling issues over the team radio, telling his engineers that smoke was pouring from his front-right brake. The Finn warned he would try to minimise braking where possible as he attempted to return the car safely to the pits.

Just minutes later, teammate Sergio Perez encountered a similar problem, informing the team that smoke was coming from his front-left brake.

The incidents capped a difficult period for the American outfit, which made its debut at the start of the season. Perez had also suffered a fire late in Friday’s FP2 session, leaving Cadillac with plenty to investigate ahead of the remainder of the weekend.

Cadillac’s brake problems continue in Monaco FP3 😓 Will they even come close to seeing the checkered flag?

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During the opening stages of the session, the top of the timesheets changed hands repeatedly between Ferrari and Mercedes, with all four drivers taking turns at the summit over the course of 10 minutes. Leclerc appeared to have the upper hand in the battle, repeatedly reclaiming top spot despite being briefly displaced by his rivals.

Kimi Antonelli was quick to respond, however, with the Italian surging to the top of the order and moving two-tenths of a second clear of the Ferrari driver.

A brief yellow flag was triggered just before the halfway mark when Franco Colapinto spun at the Fairmont Hairpin, leaving his car stranded sideways at the apex. Moments later, Liam Lawson brushed the barrier at the Swimming Pool Chicane as drivers continued to push the limits around the unforgiving street circuit.

The Kiwi was quick to tell his Racing Bulls team: “I had a big moment at the Swimming Pool. I had no idea what happened but I just hit a bump and nearly lost the car.” Lawson appeared to be fighting with his car around the chicane, suffering with another big slide laps later.

At the halfway mark, Antonelli held his position at the top of the timings, with Leclerc splitting the two Mercedes drivers, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen.

After a brief lull in the action, Ferrari and Mercedes returned to the track on fresh soft tyres to complete qualifying simulation runs. It was Antonelli who emerged on top after the opening flying laps, the Italian extending his advantage by a further four-tenths of a second.

By contrast, teammate George Russell struggled to extract the same pace from his Mercedes. The Briton failed to improve on his initial effort and aborted his lap in the final sector after running out of time through the closing corners.

A late red flag brought the session to a halt after Oliver Bearman suffered a heavy crash at Turn 3. The Haas driver was able to climb out of the car unaided, but was fortunate not to have caused significant damage to his car.

Replays showed Bearman approaching Russell’s Mercedes while on a flying lap. As he moved to pass the slower car, the Briton appeared to put a wheel onto a dusty section of the circuit, losing grip of the rears and sliding heavily into the barriers.

The session restarted with just a few minutes remaining, with most cars heading out onto the track to put in one final fast lap before the chequered flag.

It was a testing few minutes for the cars on track, as they fought through traffic to try and finish one final flyer. Antonelli remained in the pits but remained unchallenged, leaving him on top of the two Ferraris.