Imola Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Oscar Piastri fastest, Lando Norris follows in front of the Ferraris

The first day of testing was full of lessons. The Ferrari is performing well at Imola, Red Bull is currently struggling. These free practice 3 sessions represent the last opportunity to optimize the setup of the cars before the qualifying session later in the afternoon.

A Ferrari-Red Bull showdown, almost alone on the track.

Once again the conditions are perfect for these FP3, scheduled at 1:30 pm on the Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit. The track temperature is high: over 45 degrees on the ground at the start of the session. The 2 Red Bull, on medium tires, start the practice in the lead: Sergio Perez is ahead of Max Verstappen by 14 thousandths.

Very quickly Carlos Sainz improves the Red Bull’s time by 8 tenths, on soft tires however. After greeting the crowd, Charles Leclerc sets off, also on soft tires! He completes a fast lap in 1:16.281, 10 minutes after the start of the session. The Red Bulls are closing in on the stopwatch… lap after lap, still on medium tires. Max Verstappen comes back to less than 2 tenths of Charles Leclerc.

A quarter of an hour after the start of the session, only Alpine and Aston Martin are on the track with Red Bull and Ferrari. The others are getting ready calmly, the Mercedes drivers have still not got into their car.

The towers are improving a lot, as the cars rubber in the track because it was quite green at the start of the session. Lewis Hamilton exits his garage to complete a quick first lap on soft tires… It’s clearly a failure as his lap is 2 seconds slower than the reference lap set by Charles Leclerc.

Alonso hits the wall, red flag deployed.

Aston Martin cars are the only ones on hard tires… Mid-session, they continue to achieve very good lap times. Fernando Alonso loses control! He hits the wall at the final corner and remains immobilized: the session is red-flagged. The Spaniard lost control of his car at the entry of the corner, he finished his race beyond the gravel trap. He was on a very good lap… too bad, the mechanics will have to be efficient to repair the car before qualifying in 4 hours.

Is McLaren on the same momentum as in Miami?

A few minutes later, the session restarts in full swing. Charles Leclerc’s time is beaten by his teammate, while Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are three tenths slower on medium tires.

Oscar Piastri is moving up the rankings, on soft tires he sets the third fastest time. One lap later, he is ahead on the intermediate times of the best lap. He ruins his time by biting into the gravel trap on the last corner… The McLarens are staying low-key for now, but the performance potential is definitely there!

Mercedes is currently lagging behind, using soft tires but their lap times are not following. Both cars are outside the top 10. The Williams are very fast in top speed: on soft tires, they set the sixth and ninth fastest times.

5 last minutes of madness!

Oscar Piastri is the first to switch to new tires for a qualifying-style lap. He goes all out, completing his lap in 1:15.529! Meanwhile, Sergio Perez hits the wall in the final chicane! Just moments after Piastri’s impressive time, the Mexican driver causes a second red flag. The car is quickly cleared, and the session resumes for another 2 minutes and 30 seconds!

Ferrari are slow to get going, there are many battles on the track, everyone wants to set a fast lap. It’s a constant struggle to prepare for one’s lap, several maneuvers are on the edge. It feels like we’re in the middle of a Grand Prix! Lando Norris snatches the second time, just ahead of the Ferraris that don’t improve.

The McLarens finish this session at the top, ahead of the 2 Ferraris. Red Bull seems to be doing better, but remains discreet. The qualifying session this afternoon is very open, many single-seaters can achieve pole position at Imola!

The ranking of the session

More information in a few moments…