Le FP1 of the Imola GP saw an excellent Ferrari emerge, in first and third position thanks to the support of the home crowd, but also to the innovations brought. Red Bull, on the other hand, encountered some difficulties, but we are still at the beginning of the weekend and there is time to make adjustments. With still one free practice session to go before tomorrow's qualifying at 16pm, let's see what happened during FP00 of the Imola GP. These too were held under a beautiful sun. But that doesn't mean the situation can't change. The weather is in fact one of the key elements for this weekend.
Ferrari vs Red Bull, act two
The traditional weekend allows the teams to spread out their work and this is especially useful for those who have brought new things. Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Aston Martin are in fact the teams that have decided to use Imola as a test bed, also considering that the next race weekend will be held in Monaco. Testing new products always requires a lot of evaluation and comparison work, which is why the teams work on different programs and with different compounds. During FP1 we saw Red Bull working only with the soft tires, despite not being able to find the right feeling to attack the more advanced positions. Max Verstappen ended up in the gravel several times during his flying lap. Compared to Ferrari, Red Bull started with a few more difficulties, and for this reason it is essential to make the most of every minute of the test sessions.
Ferrari arrived in Imola to complete the perfect weekend, even making unexpected changes. In fact, during FP1 an important communication arrived, namely that Ferrari has decided to fit the third power unit on Charles Leclerc's SF-24, changing several elements. An unexpected but necessary change after the team found anomalies in Miami. A precautionary move therefore to try not to make any mistakes on the weekend at home. The second engine will however be recovered and used for rotation.
What happened during FP2 of the Imola GP
But let's see what the track told us in this second part of the day in Imola. All the teams take to the track immediately, almost all with the medium tyre. The challenge between Leclerc and Sainz was immediately heated, but Verstappen and Norris also joined them. On the first try they are all in a tenth. In the meantime, Hulkenberg was called back to the pits for checks on the Haas car. Max Verstappen, having difficulty in the first part of the day with the soft tyre, showed a better feeling with the medium tyres.
During FP2 we also saw a glimpse of what qualifying could have in store for us with the related traffic problems. Imola is a tight, narrow circuit, and Fernando Alonso complained a lot about Hamilton's presence when exiting Tosa. Almost 20 minutes have passed since the start of the session, the shadow of Williams is still not visible, stopped in the pits with both drivers. In FP1 Albon had to stop on the track due to a problem with his car. At Ferrari the updates are not the only news. In fact, Leclerc has a new track engineer, Bryan Bozzi, starting this weekend. During FP2 the Monegasque stressed to Bozzi to check the power steering after a problem encountered by Acque Minerali.
Half an hour from the end everyone goes out on the soft tires for the qualifying simulation. This terrain seems to be destined for only one driver, Charles Leclerc, who keeps Piastri about a tenth behind and Tsunoda three tenths behind. Excellent pace from McLaren, which seems to have been reborn from Miami. However, the problems continue for Red Bull, still far from the top positions. Max Verstappen complains a lot in the radio teams, and the team continues to make set up changes. But Max is not the only one to suffer, Perez is also relegated to the rearmost positions of the top 10 on the soft tyres.
The last fifteen minutes are instead dedicated to race pace. In this phase Norris and Piastri do two different jobs with media and hard, to collect a lot of information on the two cars. McLaren proves competitive, but Ferrari is no different. It will be interesting to see how the weekend evolves.
The top 10 of the FP2 of the Imola GP
- Leclerc
- Piastres
- tsunoda
- Hamilton
- Russell
- Sainz
- Verstappen
- Perez
- Hulkenberg
- Alonso
