17/05/2025
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's sole practice session the air temperature is 22 degrees C, while the track temperature is 46 degrees. Despite it being bright and sunny there is a 10% chance of rain.
In terms of a pecking order, as expected, McLaren leads the way, however from there on it is anyone's guess.
While Verstappen is up there, as is Russell, Gasly has been looking mega so far, while the Williams pair are also looking very good.
However, all the usual issues about pace, grip, handling, brakes etc aside, this being Imola, another factor to consider in qualifying and tomorrow is track limits, not forgetting traffic.
Consequently, whatever the pecking order we could see some bug names fall by the wayside this afternoon.
As previously reported, there are lots of upgrades this weekend but thus far we haven't seen the best of them.
The lights go green and Norris leads the way, however he is all alone. He completes a lap and heads straight back into his garage.
Several minutes later Stroll heads out - like Norris before him on the hards. He is followed by his Aston Martin teammate and Hamilton.
Hamilton, on mediums, is followed by a soft-shod Hulkenberg.
While the Aston Martin pair pit, Hamilton stays out, subsequently posting a 16.983, while Hulkenberg posts an 18.005.
Next out are Bortoleto, Lawson and Colapinto.
Bortoleto goes second (17.295) on softs, as Lawson (mediums) goes third with a 17.337.
As Gasly heads out on softs, followed by Leclerc, Colapinto (softs) goes second with a 17.203.
No sooner has Gasly posted a 16.679 than Hamilton raises the bar with a 15.866.
Bearman goes second on the softs, as Leclerc goes fourth on mediums and Alonso fifth on hards.
A 15.833 sees Piastri go top but this is soon beaten by Verstappen (15.579), both on the yellow-banded rubber.
Tsunoda goes fifth and Hadjar ninth, as Norris goes quickest in S2, the Briton subsequently crossing the line at 15.565 to go second, 0.077s down on Verstappen.
Albon goes seventh on the mediums, but is demoted when his teammate posts a 16.623.
Wow! Hadjar (mediums) stops the clock at 15.508 as Alonso complains about being impeded by Leclerc. "Both Ferraris think they are alone on the track," he says.
Leclerc improves to second with a 15.529.
As Russell goes seventh, Verstappen goes quickest in all three sectors, crossing the line at 15.130.
"Quite a bit of bouncing in Turn 5," reports Russell as Albon improves to seventh.
Again, the Thai driver is leapfrogged by his teammate who stops the clock at 15.875.
A big spin for Lawson at the exit of Tamburello brings out the yellows, leaving the Kiwis tyres badly flat-spotted.
Russell improves to fifth (15.662) while Verstappen consolidates his top spot with a 15.078 despite a poor final sector.
As Christian Horner predicted yesterday, mediums might be the way to go in qualifying. The softs have the pace but are extremely sensitive to temperature. That said, the red-banded rubber is good for two flying laps.
A close encounter at the pitlane exit involving Hadjar, who was carrying out a practice start, and Sainz.
"This rides' a definitely a bit worse today," claims Russell.
Sainz goes third (15.484) on the mediums, as his teammate aborts after making a mistake in the second sector.
With around fifteen minutes remaining the softs finally come into play.
Piastri and Verstappen both run wide in the Variante Alta as Norris goes top with a 14.897.
"Absolutely zero pace, man," complains Tsunoda.
Hamilton can only manage tenth, as Leclerc remains sixth.
PBs in all three sectors see Antonelli go fourth, 0.502s off Norris' pace.
Bortoleto goes fifteenth, as Sainz remains fifth and Albon slightly improves to ninth.
Norris goes off at Tamburello, appearing to have dipped a toe on the grass.
The softs are not leading to the improvements expected, starting the lap all well and good but overheating by the end.
Piastri improves with a 14.997, but remains 0.100s off his teammate's pace.
"I might have floor damage, I ran a bit wide," admits Hamilton after making a mistake in the Variante Bassa.
"Just zero grip," complains Tsunoda, as Leclerc improves to fifth with a 15.451.
The session ends. Norris is quickest, ahead of Piastri, Verstappen, Antonelli, Leclerc, Sainz, Hadjar, Russell, Albon and Hamilton.
Alonso is eleventh, ahead of Bearman, Stroll, Lawson, Gasly, Bortoleto, Tsunoda, Colapinto, Hulkenberg and Ocon.
So, adding to the traffic, track limits conundrum is the fact that they softs may not be the way to go, which would play into the hands of the likes of Aston Martin who have two sets of mediums left, also being one of the only teams to try the hards.
Also, in their determination to push to the limit we've seen mistakes from the best of them, which means that qualifying could live up to expectations.