F1 Imola GP. The FP3 session of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix will be crucial to best prepare for qualifying, a fundamental aspect on a track where overtaking proves difficult with this generation of cars, as we’ve seen in the previous two editions. McLaren appears to be the only team without concerns, but beware — even the smallest mistake will make a difference.
SF-25, objective: improve single-lap performance
Ferrari needs to resolve some issues, and to truly do so, it will need urgent updates in the coming weeks. But for the Imola weekend, it must sort out its qualifying lap performance in this final session. On race pace, the SF-25 showed particular competitiveness yesterday, but that will mean nothing without a strong lap and, at the very least, a second-row start.
Both Ferrari drivers are already in their cars, ready for the final and decisive check: determining whether the chosen setup truly represents a step forward. This is the moment of truth, where the team needs to confirm improvements and close the gap to those who have excelled on single-lap pace, such as McLaren. The Maranello team is looking for a technical balance that will allow them to fight for top positions.
It will be up to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to show us, on track, whether the work done has paid off. They start on Medium tyres. Lewis Hamilton goes out a few minutes before Charles Leclerc, as mechanics were still working on the rear of car number 16. The Briton’s start is cautious: tyre warm-up without pushing, and a first usable lap that is mostly exploratory, with a conservative approach to assess overall balance.
After a pit stop and two cooldown laps, he prepares a push lap with an aggressive engine mode. Riccardo Adami gives precise instructions on how to tackle certain corners, while Hamilton notices improvements in Turn 2 compared to yesterday.
Good behaviour on Medium tyres
Charles Leclerc also gets into the heart of the session, using the same Medium tyres as Hamilton. Meanwhile, the Englishman pushes, though he still deals with the usual lack of rotation and a rear end that’s not fully stable, despite an overall decent lap. Charles starts with a more aggressive approach but faces similar difficulties managing the kerbs, particularly at the Villeneuve and Alta chicanes. At Tosa, however, he appears slightly more precise than the previous day.
After the first stint, Charles Leclerc returns to the pits for a small front wing adjustment. He completes a practice start at the end of the pit lane and immediately goes back out for another attempt to assess the car’s behaviour. An interesting detail emerges over the radio: the front tyres struggle to reach temperature — a crucial factor for qualifying that could affect performance in the early sectors.
The final lap of the first Medium-tyre run shows a Ferrari that’s fairly well-balanced overall. Charles doesn’t make mistakes and the lap flows smoothly, a sign the setup is working, although understeer is still present — albeit less than yesterday. At the end of the lap, he slows down, receives a few words from Alonso on track, and returns to the pit lane, driving slowly along it to perform another practice start.
There’s time for another attempt: Hamilton goes back out on the same Mediums, while Leclerc, having not improved on his previous lap, lifts off and prepares to relaunch. Lewis takes the same approach. One noteworthy point remains the Variante Alta, which continues to be an unknown in terms of car behaviour in that critical section of the circuit.
Then, a brief race pace simulation begins. Just like the previous day, with a heavier fuel load, the SF-25 shows a more balanced setup. Overall behaviour is positive, and the car appears stable. The lap times are surprisingly quick given the presumed fuel load, which makes the analysis a bit more complex.
The most likely hypothesis is that they are simulating the final phase of the race, when weight drops but tyres are already worn. The goal is to assess how the Medium Pirellis perform under advanced degradation and to gather useful strategy data. In this context, the two Ferraris behave solidly, offering some encouraging signs for the race.
The Pirelli C6 compound causes trouble
The final part of FP3 starts with the Soft tyres. Track conditions are not ideal: traffic is heavy and the narrow layout makes it hard to find clean space for a proper lap. Despite this, the Ferrari drivers push on. Leclerc makes a mistake at Villeneuve and shortly after speaks on the radio, calling the car’s behaviour frustrating, as it won’t let him push as he wants.
He asks for setup changes, but Bryan Bozzi curtly replies there’s no more room to intervene. The SF-25 seems unstable on the C6s, partly due to wind and colder asphalt. Hamilton reports a similar feeling. Telemetry clearly shows that the front axle struggles to reach ideal temperature — a problem already observed. In these conditions, finding peak grip will not be easy.
This is especially true for Ferrari, which seems to suffer more than its rivals in tyre activation. Bozzi had suggested a minor wing adjustment, but Charles Leclerc preferred to keep the current setup so as not to compromise the fragile balance achieved. Hamilton is also in difficulty, and in the end, both Ferrari drivers struggle to complete a competitive lap, racking up several aborted attempts before finally stopping the clock.
In summary, the Scuderia seems to have extracted the maximum from a setup that, however, is not enough to compete with the best. To make matters worse, the Pirelli C6 compound can’t be fully exploited by the SF-25 in qualifying trim. Perfect tyre warm-up will be essential going into qualifying. Without it, the performance gap risks becoming significant.
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