Emilia Romagna GP practice/qualifying recap
Day 1
Drivers commemorated Aryton Senna with Senna inspired balaclavas.
FP1
Many teams brought upgraded cars to Imola, including Ferrari, Mercedes, and Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas. Ollie Bearman took over Kevin Magnussen’s Haas for an FP1 session. Alex Albon had electrical issues with his car after hitting a curb, resulting in a red flag for the session. The Red Bulls struggled with Championship leader Max Verstappen's two off-track excursions. Yuki Tsunoda showed some pace in sixth place.
Top 5: LeClerc, Russell, Sainz, Perez, Verstappen
FP2
The teams have struggled to find balance in their car setups. Almost every driver had off-track excursions between the two practice sessions.
After the repairs following the FP1 session, the Williams Cars spent half the session in the garage. Red Bull continued to struggle. Yuki proved he has some pace this weekend, finishing the session third on the time sheets. The McLarens have been quietly quick, Oscar finishing second on the time sheets and Lando having a lap with two purple sectors before aborting the lap in the final sector.
Top 5: LeClerc, Piastri, Tsunoda, Hamilton, Russell
Day 2
Practice (FP3)
The two McLarens topped the last practice session. Fernando Alonso hit the barriers early in the session, causing a red flag. Sergio Perez would also hit the barriers later in the session, causing another red flag. The Ferraris continued to show pace after the upgrades they added to the car. Red Bull still struggled to find balance in the car, with Verstappen ending the session in sixth place and Perez out from the crash.
Top5: Piastri, Norris, Sainz, LeClerc and Russell finished out the top 5
Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso found the barriers on Saturday
Qualifying
Q1:
After a crash in FP3, Fernando Alonso had another off-track excursion but was able to keep it out of the barriers. Nico Hulkenberg topped the time sheets right as Q1 ended but was pushed to second as Max Verstappen topped the time sheet at the end of Q1. Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo had great laps, with Yuki in third and Danny in 8th at the end of Q1.
Top5: Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda, Norris and Piastri
OUT in Q1: Bottas, Zhou, Magnussen, Alonso, and Sageant had his lap deleted and ended up last on the grid.
Q2:
The big story of Q2 was Sergio Perez's failure to reach Q3, finishing the session in eleventh place. Both VCARB drivers pushed through to Q3, as did the Mercedes. McLaren continues to show pace, with both drivers finishing Q2 in the top five.
Top5: Verstappen, LeClec, Tsunoda, Norris and Piastri
OUT in Q2: Perez, Ocon, Stroll, Albon, and Gasly were knocked out in Q2.
Q3:
Both McLaren drivers had purple sectors during Q3, but Verstappen's final Q3 lap was enough to edge the McLarens and earn him the pole position.
Starting Grid:
Oscar Piastri was given a three-place grid penalty for an incident with Kevin Magnussen during Q1. Piastri will start in fifth place.
1. Max Verstappen 2. Oscar Piastri
3. Lando Norris 4. Charles Leclerc
5. Carlos Sainz 6. George Russell
7. Yuki Tsunoda 8. Lewis Hamilton
9. Daniel Ricciardo 10. Nico Hulkenberg
11. Sergio Perez 12. Esteban Ocon
13. Lance Stroll 14. Alex Albon
15. Pierre Gasly 16. Valtteri Bottas
17. Kevin Magnussen 18. Zhou Guanyu
19. Fernando Alonso 20. Logan Sargeant
Race Predictions:
The late edition of the grid penalty for Oscar Piastri changed my prediction of the race win. If McLaren had two cars surrounding the Red Bull of Verstappen, the undercut strategy could have been used by McLaren to see if they could get one of their cars in front of Max Verstappen. With Oscar starting in fifth, I don’t see him being able to catch up to the leaders unless there is a yellow flag situation. Verstappen has struggled his weekend keeping the car on the track, which is unusual for him. With a perfect race, I see no reason why Red Bull should not win, but with a handful of mistakes, the McLarens and Ferraris will be right on his heels. Depending on the weather, some curveballs could be thrown into the equation. We could have a top 5 for one of the VCARB cars, Yuki has been extremely fast around Imola, and Danny has a competitive starting grid position.
Predicted Podium: (1st) Verstappen (2nd) Norris (3) LeClerc
