#EmiliaRomagnaGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc leads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

Leclerc Emilia Romagna GP FP1 – Charles Leclerc lead from team-mate Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari one-two in damp FP1 session at the Emilia Romagna GP ahead of Qualifying.

 

 

Sainz was 0.877 seconds off his team-mate in second with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the top three and was 1.465 adrift of Leclerc’s benchmark.

 

A few cars hit the wet Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at the beginning of the one-hour session – the only practice session ahead of qualifying before the first 100km F1 Sprint of the season – before Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and the Haas F1 Team duo emerged after the opening five minutes had ended.

 

They were soon followed out by the rest of the field, with Alfa Romeo opting to send Bottas out, with the Finn posting the first benchmark as he warmed his rubber ahead of those still emerging from pit-lane – all cars taking to the circuit on the full wets.

 

Bottas’ initial flyer was a 1:43.277, which was momentarily beaten by Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen’s 1:42.539 on the Dane’s first hot-lap, before Bottas went around again and hit a 1:40.216.

 

Many drivers suffered off-track excursions during the early running, with the kerbs at Variante Alta and downhill braking for the first Rivazza being the most challenging – Leclerc spinning at the former with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon slipping off into the gravel at the latter.

 

One driver who did not have any dramas was Red Bull’s Verstappen, who set a 1:39.595 on his initial flying tour and moved to the top of the order ten minutes into the hour-long session.

 

Leclerc then charged ahead on a 1:39.325 before Verstappen responded with two stronger efforts that lowered the benchmark to a 1:36.158.

 

After the opening 20 minutes ended, Leclerc moved back to the top with a 1:35.629 – after which he spun wildly through Acque Minerali, the championship leader dipped his left-side wheels onto the kerbs exiting the first part and spinning through the second, before he got going again.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez went to P1 on a 1:35.476 before things went quiet around the half-way point preceded a few drivers – the Aston Martin drivers coming out on the green-marked intermediates.

 

There was a wait of 15 minutes before drivers on the inters topped Perez’s benchmark, with Ferrari’s Sainz posting a 1:33.716 and then saved a big side-ways snap exiting the Tamburello Chicane on his following tour, which then once again saw the Spaniard set another quick effort – a 1:32.606.

 

Leclerc then jumped to the top on a 1:32.512 running his set of inters – but only after he suffered a half-spin exiting Villeneuve on his out-lap.

 

The Monegasque-youngster was on course to go quicker again before suffering a lock-up and cut the Variante Alta sequence, after which he gave a slipstream to Ferrari team-mate Sainz down the main-straight as the latter soared to the top on a 1:30.803.

 

With under ten minutes left in the session, – Verstappen had to abort a tour that would have given him a personal best after encountering Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi travelling slowly through the first Rivazza – Leclerc shot back to P1 with a 1:29.402.

 

Verstappen was able to improve to a 1:30.867 – 1.455 seconds adrift of Leclerc’s benchmark effort – ahead of the final few minutes, which were interrupted by a brief red flag after Norris spun into the gravel at Acque Minerali.

 

In a similar incident to Leclerc, the McLaren driver touched the exit kerbs from the first downhill right-hander, but went off faster and further in, with the MCL36 appearing to be stuck in the gravel trap and so race control stopped the session.

 

However, Norris was able to reverse and get going again as FP1 went green for the final two minutes, during which saw Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon post a personal best and Bottas went into the Acque Minerali run-off area as Leclerc and Norris did before the Finn, coming to a halt just before the barriers avoiding any damage.

 

Albon’s improvement saw him reach 17th, in-front of Mercedes’ Hamilton with George Russell leading the Silver Arrows duo at the rear of the top 10, the Briton-youngster suffering extreme porpoising at the end of the main-straight, sparking away every time the floor of his F1 W13 racer hit the ground.

 

Hamilton was the only driver to not post a personal best on the inters, wounding up a whooping 7.062 seconds off of Leclerc’s benchmark time.

 

Bottas finished the session outside the top ten, with his late spin being the same way as Leclerc and Norris, but with the biggest of the three and his C42 racer getting stuck in the gravel trap as he tried to reverse, the session was already over.

 

Behind the top three followed Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher who were fourth and fifth respectively.

 

Red Bull’s Perez was sixth in the order and in-front of Alpine F1’s Fernando Alonso who ended FP1 in seventh and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who placed eighth.

 

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and the aforementioned Russell rounded out the top ten runners.

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Bottas was 11th ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who took 12th in the classification.

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Ocon ended opening practice in 13th place on the time-sheets and in-front of McLaren duo Norris and Daniel Ricciardo who were 14th and 15th as Lance Stroll placed 16th for Aston Martin.

 

The aforementioned Williams Racing pairing Albon and Latifi finished the session in 17th and at the rear respectively as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu split the pairing in 18th and 19th.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Rolex Gran Premio Del Made In Italy Dell’Emilia Romagna 2022 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1109/italy/practice-1.html

 

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