Lewis Hamilton was quickest of all in the only practice session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen split the Mercedes by posting the second quickest time, ahead of Valtteri Bottas.
After 14 years, F1 returned to Imola and with no Friday running this weekend, the teams wasted no time in sending their drivers out for the sole 90-minute session before qualifying, and it was Bottas who broke the silence first, followed by a steady stream of drivers on hard tyres.
Hamilton set a fastest time of 1m14.726s on red soft tyres after the 45-minute mark , which was eventually 0.297s quicker than Verstappen’s on the same compound – Bottas was nearly 0.5s back in the third as the chequered flag came out.
However, on the hard tyre runs, Verstappen was fastest with an effort of 1m15.912s early in the session for Red Bull. His team mate Alex Albon managed P9 overall in the session, 1.335s off Hamilton’s pace. Fourth place was taken by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who opted for soft tyres very late in the session for his flying runs. Team mate Daniil Kvyat followed suit to take eighth overall.
Ferrari man Charles Leclerc struggled with balance throughout the session but took on fresh soft tyres at the end of practice for P5 overall – just 0.055s behind Gasly. Leclerc’s team mate Sebastian Vettel jumped from last to 12th for Ferrari with new soft tyres just before the chequered flag was flown.
Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo dropped to P6 from P4 and finished a tenth quicker than team mate Esteban Ocon (P7). Racing Point’s pair of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez comes home In 10th and 11th respectively.
Outgoing Haas driver Romain Grosjean was 13th ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz. Sainz’s team mate Lando Norris finished 16th overall, after his fastest time was deleted for exceeding the track limit.
In 15th and between the two McLarens was Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, with his team mate Kimi Raikkonen 17th – both drivers having just been confirmed to stay at the team for 2021.
English Man, George Russell took 18th for Williams while team mate rookie Nicholas Latifi comes home in P20 after losing much of the track time with a brake-by-wire failure. Haas’s Kevin Magnussen Split the Williams to come home in P19.
