2024 F1 Round 7, Emilia Romagna GP FP3: Piastri Leads McLaren One-Two as Alonso and Pérez Crashes Bring Two Red Flags

The third free practice session for the 2024 Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, round seven of the season, took place at Imola on the evening of 18 May Beijing time. McLaren finished first and second: Oscar Piastri led with a 1:15.529, with team-mate Lando Norris 0.300 seconds behind. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were third and fourth, while Max Verstappen was only sixth.

Two red flags disrupted the session. After 24 minutes, Fernando Alonso lost control on the exit of the first Rivazza corner. His car crossed the gravel before hitting the barrier rear-first, bringing out the red flag. The Spaniard went to the medical centre for checks and was fortunately unharmed. After the restart, drivers gradually switched to soft tyres for qualifying simulations, but Sergio Pérez then crashed at the Variante Alta chicane. Taking too much of the first apex unsettled his car, which went nose-first into the barrier. That brought another stoppage with only six minutes remaining.

A long queue quickly formed at the pit exit. In the final two minutes after the restart, everyone scrambled to complete one last flying lap, creating chaos on track. Piastri twice came close to colliding with Pierre Gasly through the two Rivazza corners, while Kevin Magnussen had to put both right-hand wheels on the grass at full throttle to avoid a slow-moving Daniel Ricciardo. Five cars, including Verstappen’s, ultimately failed to complete a timed lap on soft tyres, leaving the competitive order before qualifying even less clear.

Yuki Tsunoda’s soft-tyre run was also interrupted after he had completed only the second sector. His 1:16.668, which left him 13th on the timesheet, had actually been set on medium tyres. His best second-sector time, however, was only 0.013 seconds slower than fourth-placed Leclerc’s and 0.074 seconds faster than fifth-placed George Russell’s, continuing the promise he had shown on the opening day of practice.

Imola remained sunny on Saturday, with an air temperature of 23°C and a track temperature of 44°C. Qualifying was scheduled for the evening of 18 May Beijing time.