Max Verstappen appeared to thump the steering wheel of his Red Bull in bitter frustration late in the first practice session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola where McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris led the way.
Around 45 minutes into the hour-long run, Verstappen bemoaned his car, declaring that, “I can’t rely on the rear. It just feels like I’m drfiting everywhere.”
Several minutes, and with Verstappen clearly not happy with the RB21, an on-board camera showed his frustrating moment. The four-time F1 champion finished the session, seventh on the timesheet with a lap of 1:16.905s, almost four-tenths of a second off the pace of Piastri, who posted a leading 1:16.545s.
Championship leader Piastri, who has won four of this season’s six races, finished just 0.032s ahead of team-mate Norris in a session that finished two minutes early when Stake’s Gabriel Bortoleto brought out the red flags with a trip over the gravel and a nudge into a barrier.
F1 debut
The session was predominantly given over to eight of the 10 teams putting their latest upgrade packages through their paces. For the likes of Aston Martin and Haas, both introducing considerable updates, they opted for back-to-back testing.
That meant that Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Ollie Bearman for Haas ran the new packages, whilst team-mates Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso utilised the older spec. In contrast, for example, Mercedes had its updates on both cars.
Williams and Stake were the only teams without upgrades.
The session was also the first this season for Pirelli’s new C6, the softest compound now in its range. It is anticipated Verstappen’s pole lap from last year of 1:14.746s will be beaten on Saturday, particularly with warm conditions forecast.
Over the first 15 minutes, as the drivers grew accustomed to what the drivers describe as an ‘old-school circuit’, the lead changed hands on several occasions until Norris posted a more representative time of 1:17.125s.
As track evolution rapidly developed, that time was soon – and comfortably – beaten by Mercedes’ George Russell by almost half a second, the Briton posting a 1:16.599s.
Approaching the half-hour mark, Verstappen purpled the first sector and appeared on course to lower the benchmark, but was considerably off the pace through the second and third sectors to finish 0.306s adrift of Russell.
With a new set of C6s on Piastri’s McLaren, the championship leader then edged ahead of Russell by 0.054s. Several minutes later, Norris, on a second lap with fresh rubber, positioned himself 0.032s adrift of his team-mate.
Williams, despite zero updates, underlined they remain a threat. In short order, both Albon and Sainz posted the quickest first sectors. Albon, however, made a mistake later in his lap that compromised his run, whilst Sainz bled lap time as it continued.
Hamilton did likewise soon after, with a first sector 0.080s quicker than anyone else on the board, only to encounter a slow Franco Colapinto in the middle sector, forcing him to back off and abort.
It was the second time Colapinto, on his return to F1 with Alpine after being handed a five-race deal as a replacement for Jack Doohan, baulked a rival as the Argentinian also held up Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda earlier in the session.
On a later lap for Sainz, the Spaniard popped himself up into third, 0.052s behind Piastri.
Russell and Hamilton finished fourth and fifth respectively ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who reportedly ran over an animal during his session that forced him to abort a lap.
Behind seventh-placed Verstappen were Albon, and then surprising Stake duo Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg. Bortoleto, however, later blotted his copybook with his off very late in the session.
Charles Leclerc, who had to change his helmet early in the session due to it lifting, was a lowly 12th.
Colapinto, meanwhile, was 17th, ahead of Haas duo Bearman and Ocon in 18th and 20th, sandwiching Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.
