Imola FP1 report: Charles Leclerc tops timesheets as Ferrari begin assessments of new SF-24 parts. Imola FP1 report.

Scuderia Ferrari scored a one-three in the opening practice for the first of two home races this season, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, showcasing a heavily upgraded car. Much anticipation surrounded Ferrari’s updates leading up to this event, with the Scuderia opting against a back-to-back comparison and instead deploying the full package on both cars at Imola. The updates included a new front wing, rear wing, sidepod inlet, engine cover, floor edge, diffuser, and rear suspension.

Charles Leclerc led the way, being the only driver to break below 77 seconds with a time of 1:16.990. He finished a tenth of a second ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, with Carlos Sainz just 26-hundredths adrift of the Briton.

Three-time champion Max Verstappen had a tough session. On the soft-tyre runs late on, the 26-year-old initially complained of bottoming through Turn 11 after setting the fastest first sector. On his next attempt, Verstappen went off at Variante Alta and later ended up in the gravel at Turn 11, leaving Red Bull with issues to resolve between sessions.

Verstappen ended with the fifth-fastest time, a quarter of a second down on Leclerc, with teammate Sergio Perez just 0.007s ahead of him.

Interestingly, teams opted for different tyre compounds from the start: Red Bulls on softs, Mercedes on mediums, and Ferrari on hards. This led to a dynamic session with Carlos Sainz, then Max Verstappen, and then George Russell setting the fastest times before Yuki Tsunoda on hard tyres briefly led, posting a time seven-tenths quicker than George Russell.

Russell soon regained the lead before being outdone by teammate Lewis Hamilton and then McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Verstappen took control with a 1:18.606, showcasing how quickly times were tumbling.

Tsunoda was on a flying lap shortly after but made a mistake in the last sector, which was soon repeated by Hamilton. Russell then returned to the top with a 1:18.193 and became the first to dip below 78 seconds.

On a fresh set of mediums, Hamilton set the fastest times in sectors two and three but was slow in the first sector, finishing a tenth behind Russell. The session was then red-flagged due to a technical issue with Alex Albon’s Williams.

After a seven-minute break, Leclerc hit the track on soft tyres and surged to the top, nearly half a second ahead of George Russell before Carlos Sainz improved the time to 1:17.120. Russell then narrowly outpaced Sainz by 0.026s before Leclerc dipped below 77 seconds, just as Lewis Hamilton endured a spin. Carlos Sainz had also cut a corner moments earlier. Max Verstappen, starting his low-fuel run on soft tyres, had to pit due to a tear-off visor in a brake duct. Once cleared, he seemed poised to go top after setting the fastest sector one but finished a quarter of a second down after losing time in the middle sector, despite being quickest in sector three. He identified Turn 11 as a problem, with no grip on entry and the car bottoming out.

Verstappen’s subsequent attempts saw similar issues, losing time in sector two and running over the grass at Variante Alta, with Turn 11 proving problematic on his final attempt as well. Behind Max Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda was the best of the RB drivers. Daniel Ricciardo finished 13th, eight-tenths down on his teammate, after an off at Rivazza.

Hamilton was seventh, followed by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, both running the full upgrade package. Fernando Alonso, with one of the biggest upgrade packages of the season, completed the top ten, nearly nine-tenths adrift. Teammate Lance Stroll, running the older spec car, was 12th behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman, in his first of six FP1s with Haas this season, finished 15th quickest after regaining composure from an earlier F2 practice crash. Nico Hulkenberg, running the recently updated version of the car, was slowest, over four seconds down, with Haas clearly focusing on long run pace over outright times.

F1 Emilia Romagna GP 2024 – FP1 Results