Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: F1 Free Practice 1 Results

Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: F1 Free Practice 1 Results

Formula 1 returns to Europe for round seven of the championship at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari

Hannah May 6 min read

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F1’s first European race weekend of the season begins with Free Practice 1 in Imola.

Charles Leclerc Ferrari Free Practice 1
Charles Leclerc tops Free Practice 1 in Imola. (Image Credit: @ScuderiaFerrari on Twitter)

Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in today’s FP1 session at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix ahead of George Russell and Carlos Sainz.

F1 returns to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari for the first time in two years. The 2023 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was cancelled due to flooding.

2024 marks 30 years since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger tragically lost their lives during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix weekend in Imola. To pay tribute to their legacies, Sebastian Vettel returned to the F1 paddock to organise a run around the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Furthermore, Vettel will drive Senna’s legendary McLaren MP4/8 F1 car around the circuit on Sunday.

News recap

In F1 news following the previous round at the Miami Grand Prix, Alex Albon has committed to Williams. It was announced that Albon has signed a multi-year contract extension with the Grove-based outfit.

Also, it was revealed that Haas are suing Guenther Steiner for alleged trademark infringements in his bestseller, Surviving to Drive. Meanwhile, the FIA announced that their CEO, Natalie Robyn, would leave her position after only 18 months.

As a reminder to Sky Sports F1 viewers, you will not hear David Croft’s voice from the commentary box. For this race weekend in Imola, Harry Benjamin will be taking over the F1 coverage.

Upgrades for Imola

Most of the F1 teams have brought upgrades to Imola, as the first European race of 2024.

Ferrari have implemented an upgrade package for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The Maranello-based outfit aims to achieve a pace uplift at their home race to compete with McLaren. The Woking-based outfit brought a successful and substantial upgrade package to Miami. Lando Norris then went on to achieve his maiden F1 win.

Haas are also bringing upgrades to Imola in the hope of extending their recent run of points-scoring finishes.

Bearman returns

Current Formula 2 driver for Prema Racing, Oliver Bearman made his F1 debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for Ferrari. He stepped in for Carlos Sainz when the Spaniard required surgery for appendicitis.

Bearman is a reserve driver for both Ferrari and Haas F1 teams. Haas have confirmed that Bearman will be returning to F1 and will drive the VF-24 during FP1 in Imola in place of Kevin Magnussen.

Lights out for FP1

Italian sunshine and blue skies greeted the drivers for the start of FP1. As the lights went green at the end of the pit lane, the cars lined up to start the session.

Carlos Sainz set out on his first lap in front of the Tifosi home fans. Riding onboard with Pierre Gasly we could see his Senna-inspired tribute helmet.

Sainz set a 1:21.249 to kick off the times for the session, provisionally topping the timesheet. Max Verstappen then completed his first lap with a 1:20.085, followed by his teammate, Sergio Perez. Both Red Bull drivers used the soft compound tyres at the start of the session. Charles Leclerc then split the Red Bull drivers, setting a P2 time. Both Ferraris were using the hard compound tyres.

George Russell then topped the timesheet in his Mercedes with a 1:19.704 on the medium tyres. Also on the medium compounds, his teammate, Lewis Hamilton then set a P2 time kicking off Mercedes’ weekend.

Then, Yuki Tsunoda set a 1:19.055 in the RB with hard tyres. He topped the timesheet with 50 minutes to go. His time was shortly beaten by Oscar Piastri with a 1:18.986. The Australian has tested before at this circuit for McLaren. However, he has never raced in F1 at Imola.

Verstappen and Perez then shot back up to the top of the timesheet on their next completed lap. Verstappen set a 1:18.606 with Perez 0.008 seconds behind the Dutchman.

Tsunoda understeered and ran onto the gravel in the first Rivazza, slowing him down on an otherwise quick lap.

Both Alpine drivers were reporting issues with their cars. Bruno Famin, Alpine Team Principal joined the Sky Sports broadcast for FP1 and spoke about needing to improve their performance.

15 minutes in

With 45 minutes left of FP1, Russell topped the timesheet with a 1:18.193, followed by Piastri and Leclerc. Hamilton made the same mistake as Tsunoda, running wide onto the gravel trap.

Verstappen then finished just 0.141 behind Russell for P2, while Sainz set a time quicker than his teammate for P4.

Tsunoda continued his good form and recovered from his earlier mistake, finishing his lap in P3.

Zhou Guanyu complained of jumping around like a kangaroo in his Sauber.

Red flag

In sectors two and three, a yellow flag was shown for Albon. He was off the track on the grass at Acque Minerali with a technical issue. The session was then red-flagged while Albon exited his Williams.

On the replay, it showed that his car suffered an electrical shutdown. The issue in the Williams was caused by Albon hitting a curb earlier in the session.

Before the restart, the timings were as follows:

Session restart

FP1 was back underway with 35 minutes left on the clock. Norris was on track with the green flow-vis paint on his McLaren.

Leclerc topped the timesheet with 31 minutes to go. He set a time of 1:17.438, now with the soft compound tyres. For this session, Leclerc has a new Race Engineer. Ferrari replaced Xavi Marcos with Bryan Bozzi from Imola onwards.

Russell hit the apex of the curb at the Tamburello chicane.

With 27 minutes remaining, Sainz topped the timesheet with Leclerc in P2 and Hamilton in P3. The current and future Ferrari drivers were performing in front of the home crowd of Tifosi fans in FP1.

Daniel Ricciardo went off at Rivazza, more dramatically than his teammate earlier.

Norris then entered the pits and reported that something was wrong.

Bearman flew over the curb during one of his laps. At this point in the session. the Haas and Ferrari reserve driver was sitting in P10.

Russell then topped the timesheet with a 1:17.094 lap time. The Briton’s time was then topped by Leclerc with a 1:16.990.

Sainz lost the rear of his car and cut the curb of the chicane. Hamilton then touched the inside curb, spun, and found himself in the grass at Acque Minerali.

Final 15 minutes

With 15 minutes to go, Leclerc topped the timesheet with his teammate, Sainz in P3. Russell split the two Ferrari drivers in P2.

Verstappen entered the pits. He reported a tear-off in his brake duct.

At this point in the session, most drivers were using the soft compound tyres. Gasly, Fernando Alonso, and Logan Sargeant were on the medium compounds and Albon on the hards.

Verstappen was back on track with a hot lap, setting a purple first sector and a green second sector. His final sector was purple and he set a 1:17.240 for P4. His teammate then topped his time for P4, pushing Verstappen to P5 just 0.250 seconds behind Perez.

At this point, for McLaren, Norris was in P16 and Piastri in P8. With 10 minutes to go, Verstappen complained of no grip in Turn 11.

Closing stages

In the closing stages, drivers were setting yellow sectors due to completing high fuel runs.

Verstappen then started a hot lap, setting a purple first sector. On the radio, he was informed by the Red Bull engineers that he was losing pace. Verstappen’s usual Race Engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase was on the pit wall while Red Bull Performance Engineer, Tom Hart was on the radio to Verstappen during FP1.

The reigning world champion then bailed out of his lap, losing the rear due to tailwind and cutting the corner at Variante Alta.

With two minutes to go, the top three remained the same – Leclerc in P1, Russell in P2, and Sainz in P3. The Red Bull drivers followed in P4 and P5.

Hamilton locked up and went wide into the gravel. Tsunoda complained about the traffic coming into Acque Minerali.

Verstappen then suffered another incident on his next hot lap. He turned into Acque Minerali and bottomed out, understeering off into the gravel. The Red Bull driver was struggling throughout the first session of the 2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix F1 weekend.

FP1 classification

Featured Image Credit: @F1 on Twitter

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