Ferrari in contention for shock F1 win? What we learned on Thursday at Monaco

Ferrari pace catches rivals by surprise 

The early 2021 season form book was turned on its head on Thursday afternoon in Monte Carlo as Leclerc soared to the top of the timesheets for Ferrari. 

The Monegasque led Ferrari’s first 1-2 finish in any F1 session since FP2 at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix as he edged out teammate Carlos Sainz by a tenth of a second. 

Ferrari’s pace caught the attention of its rivals, with Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas left impressed. Meanwhile, Bull’s Max Verstappen was surprised by just how competitive the Maranello squad was on Thursday. 

But is Ferrari’s pace genuine and could a shock result really be on the cards this weekend? 

Bottas insisted the fight for pole and the victory is “not going to be just about two teams” and Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin agreed, backing Ferrari to get in the mix. 

“This season we've learnt to expect Max's company in the battle at the front but it was a surprise to us to see both Ferraris looking so strong,” Shovlin admitted. 

“You don't need to scrutinise the timesheets for long to see that their pace is genuine - they could be real contenders for the win.” 

The question now is whether Ferrari can translate their practice pace into strong results in Monaco. 

Mercedes and Red Bull evenly matched 

Even if Ferrari managed to get just one of its cars in the mix with Mercedes and Red Bull in qualifying, it could have big implications on the title fight. 

Should Hamilton and Verstappen be separated by a Ferrari or two on the grid come Sunday, it would be extremely hard to turn things around in the race given that overtaking is considered impossible around Monaco’s tight and twisty layout. 

There was little splitting Hamilton and Verstappen on Thursday, with the gap between them at the end of FP2 standing at a minuscule 0.007s. Both drivers looked as though they had more time to come, even if Verstappen was left alarmed by what he described as a “very weak” day. 

Bottas was a further tenth behind, while Sergio Perez showed flashes of promise by topping FP1 before he failed to set a representative lap in FP2 and languished a second off the pace in P8. 

Assuming all four drivers can extract the maximum from their respective cars in qualifying, we could be in for another show-stopping battle for pole - and Ferrari might just make it a three-way scrap. 

Struggles for Alpine and Ricciardo

Alpine had high hopes arriving in Monaco after performing so strongly in Barcelona’s Sector 3, which often acts as a good indicator of how teams will fare around the Principality. 

But that form has so far failed to translate into Monte Carlo as the rebranded French squad ended the day outside of the top 10 with both cars, suggesting it could struggle to progress to Q3 in qualifying. 

Fernando Alonso was the first driver to touch the wall in FP1 as he damaged his front wing and disrupted his day as he tackles the iconic venue for the first time since 2018. 

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo also had a tough Thursday as his growing confidence behind the wheel of his MCL35M did not lead to him setting a decent lap time. 

The Australian conceded he was a “long way” off the pace after finishing FP2 in a lowly 15th, nearly a full second down on teammate Lando Norris. 

“There is a lot of time to find,” Ricciardo said. “Luckily we have tomorrow off, but right now it is trying to figure out where all the time is.”

Tsunoda and Schumacher on the back foot 

Rookies Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher find themselves on the back foot heading into qualifying after they each endured trying days on their F1 debuts at Monaco. 

Tsunoda lost valuable track time after clouting the barrier on the exit of the Swimming Pool on his 11th tour of the afternoon, leaving him anchored to the bottom of the timesheets.  

The Japanese driver, who had been targeting a clean weekend in a bid to bounce back from a frustrating Spanish GP, immediately returned to the pits and did not re-emerge again. 

Schumacher was another driver who found himself in the wars after drifting into the wall at Massenet. The German picked up a puncture and likely suspension damage as he disrupted the long-runs with a late accident that brought out the red flags. 

For the first time this season, Schumacher was also slower than fellow Haas rookie Nikita Mazepin in both practice sessions on Thursday.