Charles Leclerc was fastest in first practice for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix the Ferrari driver set 16.990 going a tenth faster than the Mercedes of George Russell. The Englishman managed to split the two Ferrari’s after he was three hundredths faster than Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc’s fastest time was set on the soft tyres that’s allowed him to pip Russell to the top of the times but the Mercedes looked to be consistent and that moved him ahead of Russell. Sainz showed Ferrari could be stronger this weekend with Red Bull, but Sergio Perez could only go fourth over a tenth behind the Spaniard.
While Leclerc had a smooth session but many of his rivals had incidents to varying degrees. Sainz ran over the grass after locking a front wheel at the Variante Alta, Leclerc would also make the same error.
Both Red Bull’s did their soft run in the latter part of the session, Perez going seven thousandths faster than teammate Max Verstappen. But the three-time champion at stages looked unsettled in the RB20, complaining about a lack of grip in the middle sector.
On both his fastest laps, it was the middle sector costing him time, on his second attempt where he was fastest in sector one when braking for the Variante Alta chicane his rear step out of line wildly and he had to cut the chicane, as Sainz had done in a similar manner earlier.
On a third softs attempt in the session’s dying moments, Verstappen set another purple sector one but then understeered off at high speed through the second part of Acque Minerali and had to skate through the gravel trap. He ended the session fifth a tenth and a half ahead of the sister RB of Yuki Tsunoda.
Lewis Hamilton was another to be caught out by Acque Minerali on his way to seventh two hundredths behind Tsunoda. The seven-time champion speared off after clouting the kerbs but avoided the wall on his way to seventh, as he went almost two-tenths faster than the McLaren’s.
Imola is known as an old-school track – narrow with limited run-off areas – and has also had extra gravel traps added to increase the jeopardy for the drivers.
Miami winner Lando Norris going two-tenths faster than teammate Oscar Piastri with Fernando Alonso completing the top ten. McLaren are one of few teams not to introduce their upgrades here having done so last weekend in Miami. Their focus appeared focused on optimising the performance of their heavily updated MCL38, as Norris began the session with an aero-rake on his car.
Ferrari have their first major aerodynamic development of the season, with new bodywork and floor, aimed at improving aerodynamic performance. Red Bull have a new floor and Mercedes and Aston Martin have also bought new parts.
It means that the session is slightly more difficult to read and early performance suggests Verstappen will continue to be challenged throughout the weekend
Pierre Gasly was eleventh the Alpine driver missing out on the top ten by nearly half a tenth, as the Frenchman spilt the two Aston’s as he was a ten and a half faster than Lance Stroll.
The only real interruption was caused by Alex Albon who stopped on track with a lost of power early on. Williams saying that his “Alex’s car shut down after going over a kerb. The cause is currently unknown and will be investigated when the car is back.”
Daniel Ricciardo was thirteenth as the RB was a tenth faster than Esteban Ocon. Ollie Bearman returned to the field driving for Haas as one of his six FP1 outings this season, the Englishman half a tenth behind Ocon and ahead of the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas going three tenths faster than Guanyu Zhou, the two Williams with Logan Sargeant a tenth and a half ahead of teammate Albon, while Nico Hulkenberg propped the field up a second behind Albon
