A big Ferrari on Friday of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola! The first free practice session has already unleashed all the fans, with Leclerc in the lead and Sainz in third position, a good performance on the flying lap and a good balance on the race pace. Max Verstappen, however, was in difficulty, making several mistakes, just as McLaren was not exceptional.
A Ferrari convincing in the first free practice session, with Leclerc clocking 1:16.990 in the time attack on soft tyre, ahead of George Russell by a tenth and teammate Carlos Sainz by 130 thousandths. The two Red Bulls arrive almost tied, in fourth and fifth position, respectively with Sergio Perez at 0″243 and Verstappen at 0″250.
Session which also had some hitches, such as some problems with Alexander Albon’s car which stopped on the grass in the Acque Minerali area and to remove the car it was necessary to proceed with the red flag, then some small errors from Lewis Hamilton, in spin without consequences in the same area as Albon, finally some long runs from Max Verstappen, especially between the second and third sectorswith some problems with the Red Bull’s set-up on the flying lap.
Definitely good race pace from the two Ferrariswith Leclerc and Sainz lapping with a certain regularity and consistency around 1’20″4-1’20″5, a sign of an excellent balance of the car also in view of Sunday’s race.
FP1 TIME CLASSIFICATION EMILIA ROMAGNA GP 2024
1 Charles LECLERC Ferrari 1:16.990 4
2 George RUSSELL Mercedes+0.104 3
3 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari+0.130 4
4 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing+0.243 4
5 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing+0.250 6
6 Yuki TSUNODA RB+0.398 4
7 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes+0.418 5
8 Lando NORRIS McLaren+0.612 7
9 Oscar PLATES McLaren+0.817 5
10 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin+0.877 5
11 Pierre GASLY Alpine+0.915 4
12 Lance STROLL Aston Martin+1,082 4
13 Daniel RICCIARDO RB+1,152 4
14 Esteban OCON Alpine+1,622 4
15 Oliver BEARMAN Haas F1 Team+1,677 3
16 Valtteri BOTTAS Kick Sauber+1,837 5
17 Guanyu ZHOU Kick Sauber+2,139 3
18 Logan SARGEANT Williams+2,911 4
19 Alexander ALBON Williams+3,060 3
20 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team+4,069 4
