Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Norris fastest ahead of Piastri and Verstappen

After overwhelming dominance during the first two free practice sessions by McLaren, the final session for the 20 drivers ahead of qualifying (4 PM). Diverse choices regarding tires. Some are starting on yellow compounds and others on red.

First half of the session indecisive

From the very first laps, it is the McLaren and Ferrari teams that stand out. Always as fast, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are consistently setting purple sectors.

Max Verstappen, who complained about problems with his car before FP3, also manages to find some pace. Midway through the session, he is first in the session.

The big surprise in these first minutes is the speed of Isack Hadjar. With his medium tires, the French rookie ranks 3rd, just behind Verstappen and Norris.

Switch to soft compound

Max Verstappen is one of the first to switch to soft tires to approach a qualifying pace. However, the Dutch four-time world champion does not improve his time on mediums after the first attempt. The tires don’t seem to hold up throughout the entire lap. A lot of understeer in the last sector.

Lando Norris is the first to capitalize on his red tires by improving by 0.181 on Max Verstappen.

Second attempt on red tires for the drivers. Piastri improves but is 0.376 behind his teammate. Andrea Kimi Antonelli also climbs up the standings to fourth place, but half a second behind Lando Norris. The Briton managed to get his tires working perfectly. Oscar Piastri comes within a tenth of his teammate at the very end of the session, on a second lap with the same tire. McLaren seems to be the team managing its tires the best.

The good pace of the Williams

The Grove team continues to impress. The car is fast, reliable, handles brakes well, and navigates the curbs of the Imola circuit smoothly. Carlos Sainz is in great form in his seat, taking the 3rd fastest time of the session with less than 20 minutes remaining. Alex Albon, on the other hand, shows speed: he is 7th, just ahead of Oscar Piastri, at the same moment. On soft tires, Williams doesn’t improve but maintains its good pace. Solid.

Ferrari: mixed results

After two contrasting initial sessions for the Reds, there’s still instability. Urged on by the thousands of tifosi around the circuit, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are unable to extract the full potential from their Ferrari. The seven-time British world champion is complaining about the brakes and the rear end. He is in 9th position with 20 minutes remaining in the session. On soft tires, the Briton is nearly a second behind leader Lando Norris. It’s very complicated.

On Charles Leclerc’s side, a lot of understeer as well, particularly on the soft tires. Ferrari is struggling to put everything together.

It’s Lando Norris who stays at the top of the timesheet for this third session (1:14.897), ahead of Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen. Stay tuned for the qualifying session at 4 p.m. The key will be the performance of the soft tires.

The session ranking