Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: F1 Free Practice 2 Results

Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: F1 Free Practice 2 Results

The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari looked beautiful under blue skies and sunshine for today’s F1 practice sessions

Hannah May 4 min read

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Ferrari performed well in the first practice session earlier today, but who will top Free Practice 2 in Imola?

Charles Leclerc Free Practice 2 Imola
Charles Leclerc makes it a double P1, topping the timesheets in both FP1 and FP2 at Ferrari’s home race in Imola. (Image Credit: @ScuderiaFerrari on Twitter)

Charles Leclerc was the fastest in Free Practice 2 of the 2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The 26-year-old was followed by Oscar Piastri in P2 and Yuki Tsunoda in P3.

FP1 recap

Following their upgrade package for Imola, Ferrari showcased a quick pace in today’s windy and eventful Free Practice 1 session. Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets and Carlos Sainz achieved P3 in front of the Italian team’s home crowd and Tifosi fans.

After recently re-signing with Williams in a multi-year deal, Alex Albon caused a red flag in FP1. The 28-year-old suffered a technical issue which caused the FW46 to completely shut down.

Surprisingly, Max Verstappen struggled throughout FP1. The reigning world champion made multiple mistakes, abandoning hot laps and running off track. The Red Bull drivers finished in P4 and P5 in FP1, with Sergio Perez ahead of his teammate.

Lights out for FP2

Red Bull have changed Verstappen’s setup between the two free practice sessions today. This alteration follows his difficulties with the RB20 in FP1, calling the car “catastrophic”.

The lights turned green for FP2 and the Tifosi were out in full force. The sunny weather remained and the three softest Pirelli tyre compounds were used for the session.

On the medium tyre, Leclerc started his first flying lap. The Monégasque set a green first sector, purple second and third sector, and set a 1:17.019 lap time for P1.

Lando Norris then topped Leclerc’s time with a 1:16.980. Shortly after, Verstappen jumped to P1 with a 1:16.930. The top six at this stage were all on the medium compound tyres. Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Esteban Ocon, and Kevin Magnussen opted for the hard compound.

Nico Hulkenberg entered the pits and the Haas engineers reported an issue with his car.

Gasly overshot the first apex, tight into the second apex, and lost the back end of his Alpine.

Then, Verstappen reported that the balance was feeling better in the RB20, particularly on the medium tyre.

Yuki Tsunoda set a 1:16.895 in the RB, topping the timesheet with 50 minutes left of the session.

Both Williams cars were in the garage with technical problems, yet to set a time in FP2. Neither car had a floor on in the garage 10 minutes into the session.

Verstappen topped Tsunoda’s time, followed by Leclerc for P1. With 47 minutes to go, Leclerc was in P1, Verstappen in P2, Tsunoda in P3, Norris in P4, and Sergio Perez in P5.

Fernando Alonso complained of impeding from Hamilton at Turn 12 and Turn 7 on two different laps.

Sainz joined his teammate at the top of the board, just 0.003 seconds behind Leclerc.

Daniel Ricciardo set a yellow first sector, followed by a green mid-sector. The Australian’s teammate, Tsunoda demonstrated great pace in FP1 and so far in FP2. However, Ricciardo finished his lap with a time that put him in P10.

35 minutes to go

Russell set the benchmark for the second running of the session. With green sectors across the board, the Mercedes driver managed a time of 1:16.8 for P4.

Norris was back out and setting purple sectors in his MCL38. Unfortunately, he had to bail out of his lap at the end due to track limits and entered the pits.

Leclerc found seven-tenths on his next lap, setting a 1:15.969. Tsunoda continued to perform, in P4 just 0.729 seconds behind Hamilton.

Verstappen set a purple first sector, followed by a yellow second sector, and a green third sector. He remained in P3. At this point in the session, there was a bit of cloud cover.

Piastri then set a time that put him in P2, splitting the two Ferrari drivers. The top eight drivers were all using the soft compound tyres, with Norris breaking the streak in P9 on the mediums.

Halfway point

With 30 minutes to go, Hulkenberg jumped to P8 and Alonso followed with P10. The Williams cars were eventually out on track, missing the first half of the session.

Zhou Guanyu complained about traffic from Mercedes. Meanwhile, Perez cut the curb.

Sainz cut across the grass, damaging his lap time. His teammate was back out, setting a purple first sector but yellow sectors two and three. However, he did manage to improve his P1 time.

Russell got caught up in major traffic, while Verstappen continued to report issues on the radio. He said: “It’s so difficult […] suddenly the front grips up a lot I almost spin”. Then, the three-time world champion was impeded by Hamilton’s Mercedes in the Villeneuve chicane.

Sitting in P3, Tsunoda was performing well for the Faenza-based outfit at their home race weekend. However, the Japanese driver was then under investigation for a practice start infringement in the pits.

Final few laps

With 10 minutes left of FP2, Leclerc led the session ahead of Piastri and Tsunoda. Leclerc felt that he was held up at the Villeneuve chicane behind Perez. The session leader then cut in front of the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen went off into the gravel under braking downhill with 6 minutes remaining. Undoubtedly, the Dutchman’s issues from this morning’s session persisted in FP2.

Sainz then ran wide into the Villeneuve chicane.

The session finished with Leclerc once again setting the fastest time at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

FP2 classification

Featured Image Credit: @F1 on Twitter

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