Oscar Piastri leads McLaren team-mate Lando Norris during a chaotic final practice session at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix raised two red flags.
Piastri was the only leading driver to run a fully representative lap at the end of the race, finishing before Sergio Perez crashed in the Variante Chicane with five minutes remaining. In a circle.
Fernando Alonso also hit the wall at the final corner early in the race, which was largely led by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz until Piastri and Norris jumped to the top of the timesheets near the end. top.
Sainz ended up finishing third, having beaten teammate Charles Leclerc in the first session of the final practice session, who was fastest in both practice sessions on Friday.
The gap between the Ferrari drivers is just 0.020 seconds, and it’s unclear whether they would have been faster than Piastri had they finished the final race on soft tyres.
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At the end of FP3 there was chaos as the riders tried to complete the final lap.
George Russell finished fifth for Mercedes, but the Silver Arrows seemed to struggle over the bumps.
Red Bull made significant changes to their car overnight and did not complete any representative laps on the soft tyres, due to Perez’s crash.
Max Verstappen ended up sixth on the medium tyres, but the car looked much better compared to Friday.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton struggled in final practice and finished 17th.
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Aston Martin Racing’s Fernando Alonso was red-flagged for making a “rare mistake” in FP3.
Is Red Bull still behind the pace?
Red Bull were one of the first cars on track in final practice, but they don’t usually do that because they want to see if their set-up changes are effective.
Midway through the race, Verstappen on the mediums was three-tenths slower than Sainz on the softs and no major issues with the car’s handling were reported.
The reigning world champion hopes to equal Ayrton Senna’s record of eight consecutive pole positions in qualifying, qualifying live Sky Sports F1 3pm.
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Red Bull technical director Pierre Vash admits the team will miss Adrian Newey but insists they are “prepared” for a future without him.
However, he appears ready to take on his biggest challenge yet this year on Saturday, with McLaren and Ferrari’s upgrades working well on Imola’s high-downforce track.
Sky Sports F1’s Damon Hill said: “We didn’t actually see pure pace from Red Bull but I do think they were under pressure.”
“This is probably the least dominant they’ve been in any game we’ve played in the last two years.”
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Mercedes technical director James Allison admitted the team had taken too long to adapt to the new rules.
Perez’s crash means Red Bull can’t completely rule out a pole battle, but Verstappen hasn’t been able to get his hands dirty on the soft tyres.
Mercedes look like the next team behind McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull but may face a battle with RB Team Yuki Tsunoda who has been quick all weekend.
Sky Sports F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix live schedule
Saturday, May 18
1.10pm: F2 sprint
2.10pm: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying preparations
3pm: Emilia Romagna GP qualifying
5pm: Ted’s Qualification Notebook
5.30pm: Indy 500 qualifying
Sunday, May 19
7.30am: F3 special race
9 a.m.: F2 Special Race
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix preparations
2pm: Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna
4pm: Checkered flag: Emilia Romagna GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
8 p.m.: Indy 500 qualifying
Formula 1 will head to Europe as Imola returns to the calendar following last year’s canceled race. Watch this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, taking place on Sunday at 2pm.Watch every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Monthly Membership – no contract, cancel anytime
