Lewis Hamilton led the only practice session for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as Max Verstappen split the Mercedes drivers at Imola.
The Mercedes driver set a quickest time of 1’14.726 around the track, which has been altered since F1’s last visit for the San Marino Grand Prix in 2006. Verstappen led the way initially before Hamilton moved ahead, becoming the only driver to lap the course in less than 75 seconds.Valtteri Bottas was third-quickest in the second Mercedes, albeit almost half a second behind his team mate. The AlphaTauri drivers, who ran at the track earlier this year, put their recent experience to good use, Pierre Gasly taking fourth place.
The Ferrari drivers also did qualifying simulations at the end of the session. Charles Leclerc jumped up to fifth behind Gasly, who was also separated from his team mate by the two Renault drivers. Sebastian Vettel went into the final minutes of the session in last place, but improved to 12th, but like Bottas was nearly half a second behind his team mate.
Several teams opted for late flying runs ahead of qualifying. Lando Norris briefly had his McLaren up to sixth place, then had a lap time deleted for a track limits infringement, as did several other drivers during the session. He fell to 16th in the final classification.
Alexander Albon therefore took ninth – a full second behind team mate Verstappen – with the Racing Point drivers straddled the top 10 divide, Lance Stroll pipping Sergio Perez by two hundredths of a second.
With only 90 minutes of running available before the qualifying session this afternoon, track time was at a premium and teams were at pains to avoid any lost running. The session ran without incident – barring a few runs through the gravel traps – and most drivers logged around 40 laps. An exception was Nicholas Latifi, who lost time with a brake-by-wire fault on his Williams.
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2020 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix first practice result
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’14.726 | 45 | |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’15.023 | 0.297 | 38 |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’15.218 | 0.492 | 46 |
| 4 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’15.633 | 0.907 | 46 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’15.688 | 0.962 | 40 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’15.839 | 1.113 | 32 |
| 7 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’15.945 | 1.219 | 43 |
| 8 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’15.966 | 1.240 | 46 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’16.061 | 1.335 | 40 |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’16.082 | 1.356 | 41 |
| 11 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’16.109 | 1.383 | 41 |
| 12 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’16.167 | 1.441 | 40 |
| 13 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’16.550 | 1.824 | 41 |
| 14 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’16.560 | 1.834 | 41 |
| 15 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’16.564 | 1.838 | 32 |
| 16 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’16.671 | 1.945 | 44 |
| 17 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’16.684 | 1.958 | 42 |
| 18 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’16.780 | 2.054 | 42 |
| 19 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’17.060 | 2.334 | 45 |
| 20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’17.779 | 3.053 | 28 |
First practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’14.726
+0.297 Max Verstappen – 1’15.023
+0.492 Valtteri Bottas – 1’15.218
+0.907 Pierre Gasly – 1’15.633
+0.962 Charles Leclerc – 1’15.688
+1.113 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’15.839
+1.219 Esteban Ocon – 1’15.945
+1.240 Daniil Kvyat – 1’15.966
+1.335 Alexander Albon – 1’16.061
+1.356 Lance Stroll – 1’16.082
+1.383 Sergio Perez – 1’16.109
+1.441 Sebastian Vettel – 1’16.167
+1.824 Romain Grosjean – 1’16.550
+1.834 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’16.560
+1.838 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’16.564
+1.945 Lando Norris – 1’16.671
+1.958 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’16.684
+2.054 George Russell – 1’16.780
+2.334 Kevin Magnussen – 1’17.060
+3.053 Nicholas Latifi – 1’17.779
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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2020 F1 season
- Pictures: Wrecked chassis from Grosjean’s Bahrain fireball crash to go on display
- Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each
- F1 revenues fell by $877 million in Covid-struck 2020 season
- Hamilton and Mercedes finally announce new deal for 2021 season
- F1 audience figures “strong” in 2020 despite dip in television viewers
Aapje (@aapje)
31st October 2020, 10:41
Let’s hope that Max can split the Mercs in Q too.
Looks like Albon doesn’t have an extra gear (or perhaps he does: reverse gear). Was nice knowing you.
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
31st October 2020, 11:01
That was the most enjoyable practice session I’ve watched in a long while. Drivers pushing from the outset, a real sense of urgency, old school track… wonderful.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
31st October 2020, 11:16
Brundle was an awful lot happier this weekend. What about that horrendous pit in Martin, this is an actual bad pit-in. what about racing Martin? last weekend was going to be a nightmare but it was great, what about this track?
Ignoring the grumpy, what a beautiful morning, the weather in southern europe is even warmer than last week, the scenery is great, the track is great, the atmosphere is classic f1, love it.
A few downsides, the removal of the chicane should help however the tricky last 2 turns compromise racing into t1.
aero wake is going to be really bad but tyre deg is unknown.
I expect Lewis to ace this one, all about leaning on the front tyres.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
31st October 2020, 11:47
I’m sorry for banging on about it, but please, could they just stop zooming in??
This race gave the opportunity to allot of YouTube channels to look back to Imola’s history and there was a lot of old footage around. The cameras stood way away from cars, showed the whole track and more and it just looked so much faster.
Around Rivazza usually the camera is way away from the track, giving the chance to show the whole straight down to Rivazza 1, into 2. But they kept zooming right into sidepods. They follow the cars, instead of giving a static point of view that just shows the seed so much better.
/usualrant
John H (@john-h)
31st October 2020, 12:15
Indeed. We all agree, but no one is listening unfortunately. Maybe one day the FOM director will wake up.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
31st October 2020, 14:08
@fer-no65 I actually prefer the closer shots & am glad they are bringing back elements of what made the old Digital+ coverage so much better than the world feed of the time.
The closer shots better highlight the speed of the cars, Make them look a lot more dynamic & violent. The wider shots usually make the cars look slower, Less dynamic & makes the tracks look flatter.