In Monaco, Saturday is generally known as the most important day of the weekend. The streets of the principality make it very difficult to overtake and so qualifying is crucial. However, the drivers were very active on the on-board radio, especially during the free practice prior to qualifying. That is why F1Maximaal lists the best on-board radios of Saturday in Monaco.
The last free practice had barely started when George Russell made himself heard. “Steering feels very different than yesterday,” the Briton reported. Not much later he had something to say again. ‘I don’t feel any vibrations, so that’s good. “The steering feels very light to the left, but to the right it is heavier,” was the feedback to the Mercedes garage.
His teammate Lewis Hamilton had some problems during the first Saturday session in Monaco after a good Friday. The seven-time world champion unintentionally shot straight and came up with a statement that Peter Bonnington has heard from him before. “The tires are dead, man.”
Drivers find each other in danger on the road
Verstappen also did not have the most flawless session of the season. “My god,” said the Dutchman, irritated about the traffic on the track. He wasn’t the only one annoyed by other cars. Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Pérez were also not happy with the antics of their opponents. “That was fucking dangerous,” the Dane reported. “What is this idiot doing?” the Mexican driver wondered out loud.
Verstappen, meanwhile, was still not completely satisfied. ‘I know where I can gain time, but that’s just not possible. We know why,” he relayed to Gianpiero Lambiase. While the three-time world champion had insight into why he couldn’t go faster, Alexander Albon was left in the dark about the problems with his tires. ‘We don’t know what we’re doing with the front tyres. They’re nowhere. They’re gone so early in the lap,” Williams sounded frustrated.
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Lando Norris also felt the irritation caused by the traffic on the track. ‘Fucking idiots, these guys. All. Not all of them, but some of them are.’ His engineer seemed to know exactly who he was talking about, namely George Russell, with whom Norris had a collision as he exited the tunnel. “I’m not asking you to tell me who is and who isn’t,” came the response from the pit wall.
The same tunnel caused mild frustration for Yuki Tsunoda, who managed to keep relatively calm. ‘It’s so dangerous in that tunnel. I came out and almost hit the wall,” he relayed to his engineer. Verstappen was also not happy towards the end of the session. “If I do a few more laps like that, I’ll end up in the fucking fence,” said the Dutchman. Finally, Pérez seemed to predict his qualifying future. “We have a lot of work to do, the car is nowhere,” were his famous last words.
Traffic the culprit in Q1
In Q1 of qualifying the grumbling continued. “The traffic in turn three was really crazy,” Daniel Ricciardo reported. Carlos Sainz also suffered from it. “Wow, traffic,” came from his Ferrari. Teammate Charles Leclerc was not happy either. “This is the worst position, we can’t keep up with the rest,” he reported. Pérez’s prediction came true at the end of Q1, as he and his car indeed ended up nowhere. “What a joke, fuck, ha,” he expressed his anger.
The rest of qualifying was considerably quieter. “I hit the wall,” Oscar Piastri reported his touch with the wall, but luckily for the Australian it wasn’t too bad. The two Alpine drivers were in two completely different states of mind. “He blocks, he blocks,” Esteban Ocon quickly told his engineer when he was bothered by Nico Hülkenberg. Meanwhile, teammate and compatriot Pierre Gasly was a lot happier. ‘Let’s go!’ sounded enthusiastically over the on-board radio when he reached Q3.
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