First session of Free Practice in Imola. Between the short and the long run, who impressed you the most in the first session of this triple header ?
It was a mix of tyres for Free Practice 1, with everyone on soft except for both Alpine, Kick Sauber, and Haas, who were on medium. Lewis Hamilton was the first one to make a time in soft, in a 1:19.903. During this time, Charles Leclerc impeded Fernando Alonso on his out lap. That wasn’t his only mistake of that session, as he appears to be higher in his cockpit than usual. Suffering from oversteer, the rear of his car slid, and it made him go wide, with two tyres in the gravel.
Lando Norris takes first place with a first run in 1:17.491 and a second run in 1:17.125. Gabriel Bortoleto was the first driver on medium in the timesheet, being P2. George Russell was pushing hard in the mid-session, taking first place in 1:16.599. While he was behind his teammate Kimi Antonelli, he noticed bottoming on Antonelli’s car. With thirty minutes to go, Lewis Hamilton took a trip into the grass, cutting the chicane.
Mistakes and traffic
During his push lap, Yuki Tsunoda was hindered by an Alpine, and the Japanese made his discontent known to the driver in the pink and blue livery. Franco Colapinto was the only driver then remaining on medium tyres, he ended up in P18 with them. During this time, both McLaren’s were leading the chart. With eighteen minutes remaining on the clock, a lot of traffic prevented some drivers from improving their lap. Colapinto, for the first time on soft, went a bit too wide and dipped two of his tyres in the gravel. Alex Albon explored a bit into the grass too after going really wide into the last turn because of oversteer.
Max Verstappen also complained about his rear. Both RedBull drivers seem really frustrated in this Free Practice 1. The end of the session was dedicated to the long run. Eighteen drivers were still on track with under five minutes remaining, with only Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda in the pit. The session stopped under a red flag with Gabriel Bortoleto driving into the wall in Rivazza. Oscar Piastri ended up first with 1:16.545, Lando Norris only 0.035 seconds behind, and Carlos Sainz is third.