Italy’s Gabriele Mini (Prema Racing) set the fastest time in the one and only free practice session for Formula 3 at the 81^st Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco, just 91 thousandths clear of his compatriot Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident).

The session began on slick tyres, on a dry track, and ended 45 minutes later on rain tyres, in order to start preparing for the rest of the Monaco weekend where, as usual, there will be lots of surprises, not just in terms of the weather.

Several drivers made mistakes, but without too much damage, and each time the marshals of Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM) did their job perfectly, clearing the track in record time. Mini, who won last year’s Feature Race in Monaco from pole position, made it clear that he intends to remain the boss in the Principality, even though he changed team this winter. He set a time of 1:27.400 and completed a total of 19 laps, as did Fornaroli and another favourite this weekend, Sweden’s Dino Beganovic, his team-mate at Prema.

Meguetounif in 4^th place!

Behind this infernal trio, grouped together in just over one second, a young Frenchman, rookie Sami Meguetounif (Trident), the winner last Sunday at Imola of his first F3 race, posted the 4^th fastest time in this session, but two seconds behind Mini. And he also provoked one of the three red flags of this very intense free practice session.

The Top 6 was completed by a Briton with a French name, Callum Voisin (Rodin Motorsport), ahead of an Australian with a famous name, Christian Mansell (ART GP), but who is not related to Nigel, the British world champion. For the record, Sebastian Montoya (Campos), son of the famous Juan Pablo, had to make do with 13^th place, ahead of the only female driver entered, Sophia Floersch (21^st), who races for Van Amersfoort Racing.

After six races in Bahrain, Australia and Imola, Fornaroli leads the provisional FIA Formula 3 Championship standings, ahead of Luke Browning (Hi-Tech), Beganovic and Mini. Qualifications are scheduled for Friday, from 11.05am, for two groups of 15 drivers.

Practice session classification