Gran Premio Emilia-Romagna – Free Practice 2: Piastri and Norris lead the way, Gasly springs a surprise

The McLarens continued their momentum during the second free practice session of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola on Friday, with Oscar Piastri leading ahead of his teammate Lando Norris. But it was Pierre Gasly who surprised everyone by placing his Alpine in third, a particularly encouraging result for the French team.

The afternoon session took place under good conditions, allowing the drivers to significantly improve their lap times compared to the morning tests.

McLaren in force, Piastri ahead of Norris

From the first laps, McLaren showed its speed. Norris set a time of 1:16.074 on medium tires, before gradually improving to reach 1:15.952. Piastri, on the other hand, ultimately took the lead at the end of the session with a lap of 1:15.293, beating his teammate by 0.025 seconds. These performances confirm the trend observed since the beginning of the weekend, where McLaren seems to have a significant advantage.

George Russell, driving for Mercedes, briefly took the lead midway through the session with a time of 1:15.693, but could not withstand the McLaren onslaught at the end of the session.

Alpine bounces back with Gasly

The real surprise comes from Pierre Gasly, who placed his Alpine in third position, less than three-tenths behind the Australian leader. The Frenchman, who had already shown a good pace in the first session (sixth), thus confirms the progress of the French team.

His new teammate Franco Colapinto, who replaces Jack Doohan for five races, finished thirteenth, reducing the gap with Gasly to about half a second, compared to nearly 0.8 seconds in the first session. It remains to be seen if this performance can be confirmed in qualifying, where the engine settings of other teams, particularly Red Bull, could change the game.

Ferrari in trouble at home

The tifosi didn’t have many reasons to rejoice on Friday. Charles Leclerc could do no better than sixth, 0.475 seconds behind Piastri, while Lewis Hamilton, still adapting to Ferrari, finished eleventh.

The two Scuderia drivers encountered similar problems with their brakes. “These brakes are really a problem,” lamented Hamilton over the radio, while Leclerc described the brakes’ behavior as “horrible” in warm-up mode.

Leclerc also identified critical areas for improvement: « We need to work on the entry of turns 5, 9, and 11. It’s crucial, I would say. »

Red Bull in retreat, but watch out for adjustments

Max Verstappen finished fifth behind George Russell (Mercedes), 0.442 seconds off the benchmark time. However, as is often the case on Fridays, Red Bull seems to be running with conservative engine settings that do not reflect their true potential.

The Austrian team is known for keeping a significant margin during free practice before showing their true colors in qualifying. Verstappen, who is looking to bounce back after lukewarm performances in recent weeks, could come back stronger on Saturday.

Williams confirms its progress

Another notable performance was that of the Williams team, which momentarily occupied the top positions at the start of the session. Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon displayed a good pace on medium tires, confirming the progress of the British team which, surprisingly, is among the only two teams without updates this weekend.

Red flag at the end of the session

The session was interrupted seven minutes from the end by a red flag triggered by Isack Hadjar’s accident. The Racing Bulls driver lost control of his car on the exit of turn 3 before ending up in the gravel, unable to rejoin the track.

This incident disrupted the teams’ long stints, essential for preparing the race strategy. The session resumed for the final minutes, but most drivers were only able to complete a single full lap before the checkered flag.