Leclerc tops FP1 with a 1:16.990 ahead of Russel and Sainz.
The first time since 2022 that f1 has visited Imola, a historic track that marks the 30th anniversary since Ayrton Senna and Ronald Ratzenberger died in Imola. It poses a challenge to the driver with its narrow track and bumpy surfaces.
How the session went
Max Verstappen struggled to get to grips with his RB20 around the Imola circuit as he set a time two and a half tenths slower than Charles Leclerc.
The reigning champion complained of having “no ****** grip” at the Acque Minerali chicane. He was losing half a second in the middle sector on his soft tyre runs, despite being the fastest in the other two.
He had a moment at the Variante Alta chicane, getting a snap of oversteer and was forced to cut the corner. Running through the gravel at Acque Minerali, and visibly displaying his frustration.
But Verstappen wasn’t the only driver struggling. Hamilton had a spin, Sainz had a similar snap to Verstappen at the same place. Similarly, drivers had multiple incidents where wheels were dipped into the gravel trap at Rivazza.
With many teams bring large upgrade packages, multiple teams started the session by running aero rakes and flow viz. All methods to help understand their new upgrades.
At the half an hour mark, Alex Albon’s Williams shut down after he hit a kerb hard, which caused a red flag.
After the car was cleared, action resumed. Most drivers put the soft tyres on and went out for some qualifying laps.
Leclerc set the quickest time with a 1:16.990 a tenth quicker that George Russell. Russell had set the early pace on the medium tyre.
Sainz’ was only three-hundredths back in third. Perez was slightly quicker than his struggling teammate in fourth.
Tsunoda was sixth for RB at their home race, getting to grips much quicker than teammate Ricciardo. Hamilton was seventh and the two McLaren’s – who were doing back-to-back setup work to understand their changes–in eighth and ninth with Alonso rounding out the top 10.
Ollie Bearman also impressed Haas on his first of six FP1 outings this season. A strong session doing plenty of long running and setting the 15th fastest time. Ahead of Hulkenburg in the other Haas car.