Emilia-Romagna GP – FP1: Leclerc leads the way in first F1 Imola practice

Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the team to the fastest lap out on track, in front of their home crowd, at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, ahead of Mercedes George Russell and, teammate, Carlos Sainz.

In a return to the European leg of the Formula 1 season, some drivers peeled into the pit lane ahead of the green light. 

Ahead of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend, F1’s sole tyre supplier Pirelli brought the softest compounds of their range, which were vastly tested in FP1. 

Across the first stints, the soft, medium and hard compounds secured appearances with a number of drivers opting for the hards while the rest opted for the mediums or softs. 

How did FP1 end

Leclerc topped the timing boards with the fastest lap of the session, in front of the Tifosi as, teammate, Carlos Sainz rounded up the rear in third – one-tenth behind. Mercedes’ George Russell completed the top three, in between the two Ferraris in second with a lap time just 0.104s slower. 

The two Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively. At the end of the session, the latter had an unusually poor session, as he suffered a snap of oversteer at turn 14 (Variante Alta) and skipped over the gravel at turn 12. 

Yuki Tsunoda was the leading RB in sixth, followed by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris who occupied P7 and P8.

This left Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri and Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso to round out the top 10 in ninth and 10th respectively. 

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the leading driver for the French team in P11, and he was the last driver to remain within a second of Leclerc’s fastest lap time. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished P12, 1.082s off the pace. 

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo occupied 13th ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 14th. Oliver Bearman was present in FP1, replacing Kevin Magnussen, for his rookie FP1 session and completed the Briton completed the session in 15th. 

The Kick Sauber pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, following by the Williams duo of Logan Sargeant and Alexander Albon completed the session in 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th respectively. 

However, Albon was forced to retire from the session – at turn 13 – with mechanical issues as his car lost power into Acque Minerali.

Haas’ German driver, who will race for Sauber next season, completed the field down in P20, four seconds off the pace.

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Tsunoda looks back at Imola floods ahead of Emilia-Romagna GP
• Mercedes F1 hoping new Imola upgrades push team ‘in the right direction’
• Albon extends his F1 stay with ‘multi-year contract’ at Williams
• Norris secures maiden win at F1 Miami Grand Prix
• Verstappen snatches sixth consecutive pole of 2024 in Miami GP
• Verstappen claims back-to-back sprint wins ahead of Leclerc and Perez

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.