F1 | Ferrari dreams, McLaren consolidates and Red Bull messes up

Two free practice sessions don’t change anything in terms of the standings, but at the end of Friday in Imola we’re talking about something different than usual, both in anticipation of tomorrow’s qualifying and the 63 laps scheduled for Sunday. The day’s ranking sees a Ferrari (Leclerc), a McLaren (Piastri), a Racing Bull (Tsunoda) and a Mercedes (Hamilton) in the first four places. In the three sectors of the Imola circuit, Leclerc stood out, leader in T1, Norris in T2 and Hamilton in T3. In terms of race pace, Piastri (with hard tyres) confirmed the best pace, ahead of Leclerc and Norris, both with medium tyres.

It’s true that we’re only on the first day of activity on the track, but in all the data cited there isn’t a Red Bull, and this is the first news to come from Imola. “A difficult day,” explained Verstappen, who in two sessions went off the track (four) higher than his season average.
“I don’t feel comfortable – added Max – the car moves a lot and so it becomes very easy to lose it. The race simulation was also terrible, there is no doubt that we have work to do, today we were definitely off the pace, if we want to be competitive tomorrow and Sunday something needs to change.”

The scenario is complex and decidedly in contrast to the start of the season. For a Red Bull in difficulty (at least today) there are McLaren and Ferrari in clear growth. In the first case it is a confirmation, in the second it is the first verdict relating to the ‘revisited’ SF-24, making its debut this weekend after the Fiorano skid.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Norris and Piastri are confirming that the results in Miami were not just the result of an excellent adaptation to the track. Lando would have ended the day with the fastest lap if he had not returned to the pits after obtaining the best partials in the first and second sectors.

The winner in Miami had made a mistake at Rivazza, but the call to the pits also seemed like a way not to provide too many references to his opponents. Shortly afterwards, Piastri set the second fastest time of the day and, above all, completed a sequence of ten laps on hard tires which proved to be the fastest long run ever.

McLaren differentiated their strategies in the race simulations, with Norris taking to the track with medium tires and managing to confirm himself a short distance from his teammate. Based on the feedback seen today, the two ‘papaya’ single-seaters are the ones that have started the weekend best.

However, the day’s ranking sees Leclerc in first place. It’s not an exploit, that of Charles, the Ferrari immediately seemed very balanced in the FP1 session, confirming itself also in the following session both in the sprint and long-run versions.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The weekend is long, but when you take to the track with a car full of new features, and the drivers immediately confirm a good feeling, it’s good news. Leclerc’s pace (he took to the track with a new power unit) also proved to be very competitive in the race simulation, where he was second overall and first among those who used medium tyres. Carlos Sainz is further away than usual, a gap that could also be due to conservative management of the power unit, which in the Spaniard’s case remains number 2.

Prudence, both at Ferrari and McLaren, is at its extreme, absolutely no one wants to wear the shoes of the favourite, and the appropriate comments throw the ball back into Red Bull’s court. “Tomorrow they will be better”, they all repeat with the microphones turned on, despite hoping and thinking about a completely different scenario. “We have to keep our feet on the ground – reiterated Leclerc – tomorrow the track conditions will change radically, the wind will have the opposite direction compared to today and this will have a great effect on all the single-seaters. We will have to be better at anticipating these changes. The starting position on this track is practically everything, so qualifying will be very important.”

It may be superstition, or the trauma of defeat after what Verstappen has shown in the last two years, but this time there seems to be a truly different scenario, similar to Singapore 2023, a weekend in which Red Bull was unable to balance the car. We’ll see if the night will bring advice to the Red Bull technicians, but what is certain is that among the advice there will no longer be that of Adrian Newey. Coincidences, of course.