With overtaking being difficult at Imola, securing pole position tomorrow will be crucial: Oscar Piastri, in fact, doesn’t see the fight for pole as limited to the papaya drivers because the Australian isn’t only wary of Norris. Red Bull, with many updates, appeared to struggle, while Mercedes didn’t put everything together. And watch out for Pierre Gasly, dangerous over a single lap.
The action resumes following the verdicts from the Miami Grand Prix. The Friday classification at Imola is once again led by the papaya cars, with Oscar Piastri ahead of Lando Norris. A now-familiar script, as are the usual comments from the two drivers at the end of the day.
“Yes, it was a good day,” commented Piastri, “but we’ve already had Fridays where we looked strong and then our rivals improved before qualifying. There are still a few things we’ll try to improve, but overall, today’s work went smoothly.”
For all the teams, tonight’s workload will be substantial, as regular operations will be joined by the analysis of the numerous technical updates brought to the track at Imola. “Even though we’re not in Monaco yet, qualifying will be the priority,” one engineer revealed.
A view shared by Piastri as well. “Starting in front on this track is crucial, and I don’t think qualifying will be a battle just between me and Lando — I expect other rivals too.” It’s understandable that McLaren doesn’t want to let its guard down (in the last four races, pole position has gone to Max Verstappen three times), but based on what we saw today at Imola, it’s hard to imagine the two papaya cars being far from the front row.
Speaking of Verstappen, what happened during his long-run was quite surprising. In the ten laps of his race simulation, Max first saw Piastri appear in his mirrors, then Norris — and both overtook him and pulled away. That it wasn’t Red Bull’s best Friday was already evident in the qualifying simulations (Max finished fifth, half a second behind Piastri), but being overtaken during the long-run proved that something isn’t working as expected.
“We tested a lot of components,” said Verstappen. “Some worked better than others, but overall we’re not fast enough. Being overtaken by the two McLarens says a lot — they passed me and disappeared. It was a bit tough today. We need to work on the balance.”
“You can clearly see McLaren’s superiority,” Helmut Marko confirmed. “Four tenths on this track is a lot. We’ll try to make some setup changes to make the car a bit less nervous, but I think McLaren will remain unbeatable this weekend. We’re not losing in just one area, but everywhere. On other occasions, we’ve recovered ground by working on Friday night, but the impression I had today is that Piastri and Norris are in a class of their own.”
With Red Bull appearing to struggle (barring any overnight miracles), the hunt begins for who could be the second-strongest team. In today’s classification, it was Pierre Gasly (surprisingly) who slotted in behind the papaya duo. Over a single lap, Alpine could be a serious threat again tomorrow — not just for Verstappen, but also for Mercedes and Ferrari — though the Frenchman’s race pace wasn’t exceptional.
The long-run data confirmed the two McLarens ahead of Leclerc, Hamilton, and Antonelli. Kimi made a mistake during the qualifying simulation and ended up eighteenth in today’s classification, but his race pace remained very good. “On the first lap I made a mistake,” explained Antonelli, “and I wasn’t able to cool the tyres down enough after that. That meant I didn’t have full grip, but I know what I did wrong and what gives me confidence for tomorrow is the car’s improvement from FP1 to FP2. I think I’ll have everything I need to do well.”
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