Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
Venue: Imola Dates: 16-18 May Race start: 14:00 BST on Sunday
Coverage: Live commentary of all sessions on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app
Oscar Piastri played down McLaren’s advantage at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after heading team-mate Lando Norris in a one-two in both practice sessions.
The Australian, leading the world championship from Norris by 16 points after four wins in the first six races, edged Norris in both sessions, and ended the day 0.025 seconds quicker.
But Piastri pointed out that McLaren’s rivals, particularly Mercedes and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, tend to improve into Saturday.
“I don’t think it’s just Lando and me,” he said. “There are a few others who will join us in the fight tomorrow so we have got to keep our heads down and find a bit more.
“Saturday has been very important pretty much everywhere this year, and Imola – regardless of what the rest of this year has looked like – is a place where qualifying means a lot.”
The top five drivers were covered by less than 0.1secs in first practice but in the second session the McLarens stretched their advantage – Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was 0.276secs slower than Piastri in third place, ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes, Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The presence of an Alpine in third place underlines that the headline lap times from Friday practice should not be taken too seriously, even if Norris pointed out that the French team are often strong at Imola.
“Alpine were quick,” Norris said. “They’ve always been quick here and I’m sure Red Bull will catch up, and Mercedes will be on it when they turn their engines up. But a productive Friday.”
With overtaking so difficult around Imola, qualifying positions will be important, but McLaren showed their usual strong pace over a long run.
They were about 0.5secs a lap on average quicker than Verstappen, who Piastri overtook in the course of the race-simulation laps in the final part of the session.
Verstappen, whose car has a small upgrade around the front of the sidepods this weekend, said: “We definitely need a bit more to get a better through-corner balance to go faster. It’s the same in the long runs.
“I got overtaken by the McLarens, so that says enough. They pull away. But even then compared to other teams it was a bit tough today.”
Leclerc’s Ferrari was a match for the McLarens on race pace, and Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes was just 0.2secs off. The 18-year-old Italian, whose family home is just half an hour from the track, failed to put a lap together on the softest tyres and was 18th on the timesheets.
Leclerc said: “Our weak point is qualifying pace at the moment and we still need to work on that.
“The race pace was strong but this is a track where overtaking is very difficult. We have to focus on our qualifying pace.”
What’s up with Hamilton?
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Lewis Hamilton, on the occasion of his first race for Ferrari in Italy, was 11th fastest in the second Ferrari after being fifth, and just 0.096secs from Piastri, in the first session.
The seven-time champion said he had been happy with the car early on but between the sessions he “changed two tiny things that shouldn’t have had any effect at all, the smallest change we’ve probably done this year and we had some brake issues that made a massive difference, so that was then a fight with that.”
Hamilton was vague on what specifically the problem was.
Asked whether it was to do with the change to a different brake manufacturer at Ferrari from the one he was used to with Mercedes for 12 years, he said: “It’s not the transition. It’s the performance of…” and then his voice trailed off.
In the pool interview, which is the only driver access provided to the media on Friday, he was not pressed for an explanation.
He added: “It’s a lottery. We will roll the dice. We put on one and it works, put another one on and it doesn’t and we’ll see. I hope tomorrow we figure something out. We’re working on it for sure.”
Russell, who has had strong qualifying form this season, said that the decision to bring the softest three tyre compounds to this race could have an influence.
Pirelli has widened its range to six compounds this season, introducing a softest tyre that was originally intended only for street circuits, where tyre degradation is usually low.
However, it has been decided to use it in Imola to try to add an extra dimension to the grand prix, hoping the softer range of compounds might shift the race away from from the standard one-stop strategy at the track.
Russell said: “There is a lot of tyre degradation. We have the softest tyres here for the first time this season and that spices things up a bit.
“But we know McLaren generally seem to extend their advantage in those conditions.
“I had Oscar in my sights and then I didn’t. He passed Max and then went off. That’s just where we are at the minute as a team. We know our fight is with Max and the Ferraris.”
Williams driver Alex Albon said he did not expect strategy to change, saying the medium tyre had proved “really good” with “pretty low deg”.
The race runs were interrupted when Isack Hadjar, seventh fastest overall for Racing Bulls, lost his car on the exit of the Tamburello chicane and spun into the barriers.
The car appeared to have escaped largely undamaged, but Hadjar became stuck in the gravel as he attempted to return to the track and the session was red-flagged.
It did restart, but only in time for some drivers to do a single flying lap.
Behind Hadjar in the list of fastest times, Yuki Tsunoda was eighth fastest in the second Red Bull, ahead of Albon and team-mate Carlos Sainz.
Lance Stroll, given the responsibility to test Aston Martin’s major upgrades, which included a new floor, was down in 17th.
Team-mate Fernando Alonso, in the previous-specification car for a back-to-back comparison, was three places higher and 0.121secs quicker.
Stroll said the car felt “the same”. And although it features a new floor and engine cover, the Canadian described the upgrade as “small changes”.
The first practice session had been brought to a premature end when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto crashed at the second Rivazza corner, flicking into the barriers pretty much front-on and damaging his front wing and nose.
