Piastri leads crash-shortened first Imola GP practice

Oscar Piastri bested McLaren teammate Lando Norris to top spot of first practice at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a crash for Gabriel Bortoleto truncated the hour.

Bortoleto was two minutes from the end of his first F1 session in Imola when he lost control of his car at the second Rivazza – Turn 18, the final corner – on turn in, sending him sliding across the road, through the stones and into the barriers. Red flags were waved to collect the stricken Sauber, and with so little time remaining on the clock, the session wasn’t resumed.

Piastri had long since cemented his spot at the top of the order anyway, having completed his fastest lap of the session around halfway through the hour on a fresh set of soft tires, setting the benchmark at 1m 16.545s.

Norris attempted to follow him to the top of the time sheet, but a poor first sector and only marginal improvement in the middle split forced him to abandon the lap. A second lap on the same set of tires got him within 0.032s of his leading teammate. It was a good sign for the integrity of Pirelli’s new soft-compound tire, designed to be grippier but more delicate than the other five compounds in the range.

Pirelli has come up with a new C6 compound this season for use at tracks featuring the smoothest surfaces and lowest energy layouts in the hope of triggering more strategic variation. The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at the classic Imola circuit is typically a one-stop race featuring limited degradation.

Carlos Sainz completed the top three for Williams, continuing the British team’s good form from Miami two weeks ago. The Spaniard was just 0.052s off the pace, though his lap came much later in the session than the leaders, around 50 minutes into the hour.

George Russell, on the other hand, was fourth for Mercedes despite his fastest lap being set much earlier, around 20 minutes into the session.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth in his first session as a Ferrari driver in Italy, the seven-time champion 0.069s slower than Piastri to complete a tight top five covered in less than 0.1s.

Pierre Gasly was sixth for Alpine ahead of Max Verstappen, who completed just 15 laps, the fewest of any driver, after spending a great deal of time in his garage making changes that appeared to give him limited satisfaction after rejoining the track.

Alex Albon was eighth after a scrappy run that saw him in the gravel multiple times. He was ahead of the crashed-out Bortoleto and Sauber teammate Nico Hulkenberg to complete the top 10.

Lance Stroll was 11th ahead of Charles Leclerc, who emerged in the paddock for the first time this weekend after illness kept him away from the track on Thursday. Leclerc's session was complicated, as he complained several times that his helmet was being lifted off his head by the car’s aerodynamics, forcing him back to the pits for hasty modifications.

Home favorite Andrea Kimi Antonelli was 13th ahead of Fernando Alonso, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, whose flying lap was spoilt by traffic.

Franco Colapinto was 17th in his first grand prix session since last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after replacing Jack Doohan at Alpine. He beat Oliver Bearman, Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon at the foot of the table.