The Cavallino fans are starting to dream: the Ferrari evolution also works in Imola as it had impressed on the Fiorano filming day. In the first free practice session of the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna GP, the Scuderia put Charles Leclerc at the top of the timesheets with a time of 1’16″990. The Monegasque was the only one to break through the wall of ‘1’17” with the red compound (C5, the softest in the Pirelli range), immediately finding himself at ease with the SF-24. Charles, in addition to having the new track engineer, Bryan Bozzi, also has a fresh engine: this is the third PU fitted for safety after an alarm went off at the end of the race in Miami. The turbo and the two MGUs, both H and K, were also replaced.
Ferrari can also count on Carlos Sainz’s third fastest time, only 130 thousandths behind his teammate, a sign that both drivers like the changes. The Spaniard started the session on the hard tyres, while Leclerc had started working on the medium tyres. Leclerc’s micro race simulation at the end of the session with the hard tire was excellent, so the red one seemed to work both on the flying lap and over time.
But let’s not delude ourselves too much because the asphalt of Imola was very “green” and the Ferrari has always done well with less grip, let’s wait for the second round to evaluate the Cavallino’s ambitions more concretely. It is surprising that George Russell slipped in among the reds with his revised and corrected Mercedes. The Englishman’s W15 seemed quite competitive after a difficult start due to the bouncing that the cars suffer on the straight towards the Variante del Tamburello. Many had to raise their cars to avoid bottoming.
Mercedes was able to benefit from the “information” that Kimi Antonelli had been able to transfer to Stella after the test carried out in Imola with the W13 where these pumping problems had already emerged. Lewis Hamilton started close to his teammate, but then slipped further back to seventh place, having failed to find the balance with George. The seven-time world champion also ended up spinning without consequences.
And the Red Bulls? In great difficulty. The Milton Keynes team only worked with the soft tires and used two sets of reds in the hope of finding a good balance with the new package of innovations. The target was not achieved despite Verstapppen replacing the front bars twice. The world champion’s RB20 does not have good front cornering and we saw him cut both the Variante Alta and take a straight exit at Acque Minerali because the car doesn’t… turn.
It is therefore not surprising that Sergio Perez is ahead of the captain even if only by seven thousandths. The new features haven’t helped: Red Bull has to work on the set-up because there’s a lack of balance. Let’s not be surprised, because they have time to work.
It is precisely the RB20 that is in disarray, because Racing Bulls brought Yuki Tsunoda to sixth place with a 1’17″388 which testifies to the good form of the Japanese, while Daniel Ricciardo is only 13th, seven tenths behind his teammate. Australian was the author of a forehand at Rivazza and went long perhaps because he was distracted by a slower car. His ground certainly suffered…
More was expected from the victorious McLaren in Miami, but the Woking team did a lot of comparative testing on the MCL38, so Lando Norris’s eighth place and Oscar Piastri’s failure should be taken with a grain of salt. Closing out the top 10 is Fernando Alonso with the deeply revised Aston Martin: the gap of eight tenths from the top indicates that there is a need to find a fine-tuning of a car that has changed a lot. Lance Stroll is 12th with the other green car, while Pierre Gasly slipped among the cars at Silverstone, giving the feeling that Alpine has taken a positive path, with Esteban Ocon in more difficulty only 14th.
Ollie Bearman’s performance with Haas was positive: the Englishman was 15th with Kevin Magnussen’s car. The young FDA Ferrari driver did better than Nico Hulkenberg, but the German dedicated himself to the hard tires with the race in mind, while Oliver used the mediums. However, the boy confirms his good talent: he is back in an F1 after the crash with the F2 in the morning and seems not to have been affected by it.
The session was not very significant for Sauber with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Guanyu Zhou and for Williams: this time Logan Sargeant preceded Alexander Albon who caused the red flag after about 20 minutes: on the descent towards the Acque Minerali his Williams FW44 silenced with the power unit that turned off apparently due to an electrical problem and the Anglo-Thai driver parked at the beginning of the climb towards the Variante Alta. The stop lasted six minutes, just enough time to make the FW44 safe, but for Albon the session ended too soon…
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