Piastri leads final practice session disrupted by Perez and Alonso crashes

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri set the quickest time in the final practice session at Imola following a late crash for Sergio Perez.

Fernando Alonso also crashed out earlier in the session. He damaged the left-rear corner of his Aston Martin heavily and is under threat of missing qualifying if his team cannot repair his car in time.

For the third consecutive practice session, drivers enjoyed near-perfect conditions with ambient temperatures equal to those of the two Friday sessions. Leclerc set the early benchmark on the soft tyres with a 1’16.281 – slower than his own best from Friday – while Max Verstappenwas a tenth slower with his first push lap of the day on the medium compound. While Leclerc improved to a 1’16.087, his team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr went just 0.020s quicker on the soft tyres.

Just before the half hour mark, the session was halted by a red flag when Alonso lost control of his Aston Martin at the second Rivazza and crashed rearwards into the barriers, causing heavy damage to his car. The team later confirmed Alonso was unhurt in the collision, but his participation in the afternoon’s qualifying session is now in question.

The session resumed soon after, with several drivers heading back out on the same tyres they had been running on before the red flag. Piastri looked set to improve on his personal best time in his McLaren, but his lap was ruined when he ran wide at the exit of the final corner and into the gravel trap.

In the final ten minutes, Piastri was the first of the front runners to post a qualifying simulation run on fresh soft tyres, going fastest of all with a 1’15.529. However, before any of his rivals could complete their laps, Perez lost his Red Bull over the kerbs at the Variante Alta chicane and speared into the tyre wall, bringing the session to a halt with just over five minutes remaining.

Despite it appearing as though there would not be enough time to resume, the marshals cleared the Red Bull in time for a two minute rush at the very end. Drivers took to the track en masse, but only a handful managed to reach the line before the chequered flag to begin a lap, including Leclerc who had to pass Piastri and Pierre Gasly in order to do so.

Only Norris improved in the final moments, jumping up to second place behind his team mate, who ended the session quickest. The two Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc were third and fourth, with George Russell fifth for Mercedes. Verstappen was sixth in the Red Bull, with Alexander Albon seventh for Williams.

Esteban Ocon was eighth for Alpine ahead of Lance Stroll for Aston Martin. Nico Hulkenberg was tenth for Haas to complete the top half of the field heading into qualifying.

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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix third practice result

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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix combined practice times

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