A number of FIA Formula 3 World Championship drivers believe the races in Monaco will be cleaner than in Imola, where the Sprint in particular was interrupted multiple times.
The Saturday Sprint Race in Emilia Romagna last weekend was interrupted on five occasions with four Safety Cars and one Virtual Safety Car as several drivers had comings together or off-track excursions.
The Imola Feature was an altogether smoother affair and F3’s drivers predict that Monaco should be similar.
“Well, of course, the sprint in Imola was not ideal,” said Prema’s Gabriele Mini.
“There were many, many safety cars.
“But of course, with the new gravel traps that were there, it was really easy. As soon as you do just locking, you get stuck in the gravel and [it] just becomes impossible to get out.
“The feature, of course, was just another story. I think everybody was a bit more careful and maybe less unlucky events.
“So I think here in Monaco, to be honest, there should not be too many safety cars. Maybe in the first lap, you know, everybody’s close and we’ll try to do something. But realistically, you cannot really take or do crazy stuff around here.
“So we will see. Every time I say something, usually it goes in another way.”
Nikita Bedrin agreed with Mini that the racing should run smoother in Moanco than it did in Imola, but ahead of Thursday’s practice, he reckoned stoppages could occur as drivers got to grips with the Monaco circuit.
“I don’t really think there will be [many] safety cars [in the race],” he said. “I know that I am quite sure there will be many red flags in practice and qualis, but I don’t think there will be much stuff happening in the races.”
Bedrin, who was 19th fastest in Thursday’s practice, was proved right regarding red flags as the session was interrupted by multiple stoppages.
Qualifying for Monaco’s F3 races will be split into two groups on Friday, with the even-numbered cars heading out in Group A at 11:05 local time (GMT+2) and the odd-numbered vehicles running in Group B from 11:29 local time.
The sixth fastest car in Group B will take the reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint.
With regards to the Sprint, Laurens van Hoepen disagreed slightly with Mini and Bedrin, believing that the race could be similarly chaotic to Imola’s short race event.
“For Monaco, I think you can maybe expect a bit of the same because of course, there are so many rookies here,” he said.
“So in the sprint, I think it’s going to be like quite a big learning curve for everybody, which can sometimes result in quite a few safety cars.
“But then for the future, I expect it to be much cleaner [in the Feature].”
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