After a year of waiting, Imola is ready to welcome Formula 1 and its minor categories again. A return made even more special by the memory of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger who lost their lives here 30 years ago in the tragic weekend of 1994. The bond between Imola and Senna, but in general between Imola and engines is truly very strong, and this makes the Italian stage even more magical. After two Sprint weekends it's time to return to the traditional weekend format, with two free practice sessions on Friday. Imola is an important crossroads for the world championship, and for this reason several teams have decided to bring many updates, making these two sessions even more important. So let's see what happened during FP1, the session in which the young man returned to the track in a Formula 1 Oliver Bearman.
FP1 GP Imola, Oliver Bearman returns to the track
Imola is important not only for the fate of the championship, but also for the future of certain drivers. Every opportunity is important to be able to secure a seat for the next seasons, also considering the pressure of those eager to get to Formula 1. Oliver Bearman has already had an opportunity to get noticed. TO Jeddah in fact, he took part in his first Formula 1 race as a replacement for Carlos Sainz who had suffered from appendicitis. The first world championship points also arrived for Bearman, on his Formula 1 debut. He is certainly one of the most interesting names for the future. At the moment he is busy with Prema in F2 alongside Andrea Kimi Antonelli, another promising young man.
Nico Hulkenberg's departure has freed up a seat at Haas for 2025, a team in which Bearman serves as reserve driver. The situation at Haas is quite interesting given that Magnussen also has an expiring contract, and if he were to maintain these standards it is difficult to think of a renewal, so there would be two opportunities for Oliver. The Komatsu team principal reiterated the importance of FP1, rather than the progress of F2, to evaluate a possible move for Oliver to an official seat.
Ferrari brings updates but is not the only one
Ferrari arrived at Imola with the aim of being able to fight with Red Bull for victory, an objective achieved by McLaren who won their first season of the season in Miami with Lando Norris. The English team preferred not to wait, immediately bringing updates to regain ground on the competition. Over the weekend Sprint not only managed to do it over Ferrari but also over Red Bull. Ferrari then sent everything back to Imola, bringing a SF-24 Evo. An evolution which, however, does not take into account the problems that emerged at the beginning of the championship, in the slower sections. The team is still confident but admitted that the process will take place in small steps.
Ferrari isn't the only one having to respond though. Red Bull also brought some innovations that we were able to observe during FP1. A new fund, already planned, but which can bring the team back to recover the margin it had compared to Ferrari and McLaren. It is very important to be able to make the necessary assessments during FP1 and FP2, also taking into account the weather in the next few days which could change.
What the FP1 of the Imola GP told us
The fact of having 3 free practice sessions available instead of 1 as in the past two weekends led the teams to experiment as much as possible, right from the first free practices. Mercedes took to the track initially with the medium tyres, Ferrari with the hard tyres, and Red Bull with the soft tyres. Three teams with three different compounds since they have different needs. You will therefore need to learn the behavior or limits of your car. Especially to evaluate the impact of updates. Adding to the difficulty for the riders is the gravel, which this year has also been added to other parts of the circuit. During FP1 we saw several excursions.
FP1 also saw the first red flag of the weekend, Alexander Albon after 20 minutes of the session had to stop the car which had stalled in the stretch between Piratella and Acque Minerali. The Thai Williams driver has just signed a multi-year renewal. Upon returning, several look for references with the soft tires to try for the best lap. At this stage the Ferraris manage to impose themselves on the group, followed by Mercedes. There are many unknowns linked to the Brackley team which has brought further updates to try to understand the best solution for the single-seater.
During FP1, further confirmation also arrived for Ferrari. In addition to the updates, Leclerc's SF-24 is equipped with a new engine for the Imola weekend, as well as Sargeant and the two Haas. A slightly early move, regarding the rotation of the engines, but which was made to exclude any type of problem in such an important weekend.
The session ends with Leclerc in first position followed by Russell, Sainz, Perez and Verstappen. Red Bull still has to find the right way to build qualification by working hard, but they will have all the time they need to do so. Mercedes also has to work hard on race pace, far from Ferrari.
The top 10 of FP1 in Imola
- Leclerc
- Russell
- Sainz
- Perez
- Verstappen
- tsunoda
- Hamilton
- Norris
- Piastres
- Alonso
