Last year the Ferrari drivers lined up on the second row of the grid at Imola.
They may have been flattered by Oscar Piastri’s penalty on that occasion but the SF-24s were good enough for top five starting positions on merit.
But today Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were stung by the team’s first failure to reach Q3 for almost a year. Leclerc’s 1’15.604 was not only well off the 1’14.970 he set in qualifying, it was slower than he went in final practice.
Lewis Hamilton, who took 12th on the grid, one place behind his team mate, said he was “devastated” neither of their cars reached Q3 on home ground.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Leclerc. “Especially at home, at such a special grand prix for the team, it just hurts. It would have hurt anyway, whatever track, but here it hurts even more. I have no words about our performance today.”
Sector times
Ferrari could draw no consolation from their sector times, where they ranked in the same places they find themselves on the grid.
Former Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jnr was the only driver among the front-runners who put all his best sector times together on a single lap. Unfortunately for him that lap was in Q2. However had he produced the same time in Q3 he would have only gained a single place on the grid.
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| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 23.677 (4) | 25.747 (1) | 25.226 (3) | 1’14.650 (+0.020) |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | 23.495 (1) | 25.929 (4) | 25.231 (4) | 1’14.655 (+0.049) |
| 3 | 63 | George Russell | 23.674 (3) | 25.815 (2) | 25.201 (2) | 1’14.690 (+0.117) |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | 23.819 (8) | 25.901 (3) | 25.134 (1) | 1’14.854 (+0.108) |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 23.663 (2) | 26.150 (8) | 25.385 (6) | 1’15.198 |
| 6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 23.870 (9) | 25.941 (5) | 25.491 (11) | 1’15.302 (+0.129) |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 23.800 (6) | 26.233 (13) | 25.315 (5) | 1’15.348 (+0.157) |
| 8 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 23.814 (7) | 26.153 (9) | 25.428 (9) | 1’15.395 (+0.102) |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 23.738 (5) | 26.159 (10) | 25.503 (12) | 1’15.400 (+0.073) |
| 10 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | 24.003 (12) | 26.055 (6) | 25.405 (8) | 1’15.463 (+0.047) |
| 11 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 23.941 (10) | 26.183 (11) | 25.389 (7) | 1’15.513 (+0.091) |
| 12 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 24.039 (14) | 26.188 (12) | 25.445 (10) | 1’15.672 (+0.093) |
| 13 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 24.012 (13) | 26.091 (7) | 25.592 (13) | 1’15.695 (+0.077) |
| 14 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 24.002 (11) | 26.389 (17) | 25.689 (14) | 1’16.080 (+0.180) |
| 15 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | 24.154 (16) | 26.262 (14) | 25.781 (19) | 1’16.197 (+0.721) |
| 16 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 24.132 (15) | 26.366 (15) | 25.743 (18) | 1’16.241 (+0.277) |
| 17 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | 24.160 (17) | 26.391 (18) | 25.705 (15) | 1’16.256 |
| 18 | 30 | Liam Lawson | 24.297 (18) | 26.369 (16) | 25.713 (16) | 1’16.379 |
| 19 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 24.341 (19) | 26.540 (19) | 25.732 (17) | 1’16.613 |
Teams’ performance
It could easily have been even worse for Ferrari, as they only narrowly out-paced the likes of Alpine and Racing Bulls. Three teams lapped slower at Imola this year than they did last season, and Ferrari was the furthest down on their pace.
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Field performance
This is likely to be the final grand prix at Imola for the foreseeable future. The quickest lap on this configuration of the track was set when F1 returned during the Covid-hit 2020 season. That event was run to a unique, two-day format, with a single practice session before qualifying.
The next two events were affected by rain. The same was even more true in 2023, when the race was called off due to flooding. However, under the post-2022 ‘ground effect’ regulations, F1 cars have not achieved the same performance at Imola as before.
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