Also in the afternoon, in Emilia Romagna, we return to the track for the session FP2 of the Imola GP. New session but same situation because the McLaren he still proves to be dominant, as he has been throughout this early season F1, both in terms of the fastest lap and the race pace. In fact, the free practice sessions ended with Norris first in 1:15.293, followed by Piastres and from an extraordinary Pierre Gasly.
In search of the fast lap
At the start of the session almost all the riders take to the track with medium tyres. Immediately Piastres starts from the same time as FP1 ma Norris he gives him half a second and closes in 1:16.074. Between the two there is Verstappen with a time that is 4 tenths away from the leadership. From here everyone improves their times in search of the best timed lap except Hamilton who is forced to abort his trip due to traffic.
After this first part of the FP2 session at Imola it is Russell the first to enter the track with the C6 and sets the best time: 1:15.693. From here everyone starts to do qualifying tests that conclude just under half an hour from the end of FP2 with this top 5: Piastri, Norris, Gasly, Russell e Verstappen. So again we see a Papaya double with the British who finishes in 1:15.293 at +0.025 from his teammate. On the contrary, the Maranello team is still struggling with the two drivers who complain about having brake problems and only close in P6 (Leclerc) and P11 (Hamilton).
McLaren fastest, others chasing
At this point the drivers start to do race pace simulations to find the right set up for Sunday. Once again there is no news because it is the McLaren to have the best step while Mercedes and Ferrari are further away. However, the Maranello stable Among the top teams it seems to be the one that could be the main pursuer of the Papayas in the race pace. The problem is that in the dry lap there are still many difficulties.
Like the first, the FP2 session at Imola also ended early for a Red flag caused by Hadjar which spun like Tamburello and then got stuck in the sand and was unable to restart.
Final standings of FP2 at Imola
Once again we witnessed a monocolor sessionand: color Papaya obviously… However, even the Ferrari He has shown that he has a good pace for Sunday. With a flash in qualifying there is hope for a podium?
In the meantime, we leave you with the following final classification of the session:
