2024 F1 Round 7, Emilia Romagna GP FP1: Leclerc Leads in 1:16.990, Verstappen Fifth After Two Offs, Tsunoda Sixth

The 2024 Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, round seven of the season, got under way at Imola on the evening of 17 May Beijing time. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led first practice with a 1:16.990. Mercedes driver George Russell was second, 0.104 seconds behind, with Carlos Sainz third and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda sixth.

At the opening round of the European season, every team except RB brought upgraded parts. Aston Martin ran Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in cars with different specifications to compare the new and old packages. Ferrari was confident enough to dispense with a baseline comparison and immediately begin setting up its extensively revised SF-24, which featured Red Bull-style inverted cooling inlets among its changes. Leclerc and Sainz finished first and third, giving Ferrari a solid start to the weekend.

Defending champion Max Verstappen had a more difficult day. His car bottomed out in the braking zone approaching Turn 11, and he went off track twice during the session. Unable to put together a complete lap, he finished fifth, behind team-mate Sergio Pérez. Although he was fastest in the first and third sectors, he lost almost half a second in the middle sector. “Turn 11 is terrible, there is absolutely no grip,” the Dutchman complained over the radio.

Tsunoda completed 29 laps, jointly the third-highest total of the session, and set a 1:17.388, only 0.148 seconds slower than Verstappen. Early in practice, he put his rear wheels into the gravel at the final Rivazza corner but managed to recover the car. His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo also went into the gravel at the same place, finishing 13th, 0.754 seconds behind Tsunoda.

With 40 minutes remaining, Alexander Albon, who had just announced a multi-year extension with Williams, suffered a mechanical problem. His car suddenly lost power on a downhill section and stopped beside Turn 10, bringing out the red flag. He completed only eight laps before his session ended. As part of Haas’s season plan, junior driver Oliver Bearman replaced Kevin Magnussen for this session. The youngster, who had crashed in F2 practice, brought the car safely back to the garage in 15th place.

Friday at Imola was sunny, with an air temperature of 24°C and a track temperature of 43°C. Pirelli brought the softest range of tyres, C3 to C5, one step softer than at the previous round in Miami.