Despite all the upgrades from the Formula 1 teams, it is once again McLaren that records the fastest lap times at Imola. Oscar Piastri is the quickest in the second free practice of the Emilia-Romagna GP, followed by Lando Norris. Pierre Gasly, George Russell, and Max Verstappen follow at a respectful distance.
Almost all drivers immediately hit the track with medium tires. The usual suspects lead the time list, until after ten minutes, both Williams drivers suddenly top the list. This is to the great delight of team boss James Vowles, who has made significant strides with the team from Grove.
Interestingly, there are quite a few drivers who are terribly in each other’s way on the narrow Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Fernando Alonso, in particular, has to brake hard to avoid colliding with Franco Colapinto. The Argentine also had a run-in with Max Verstappen in the first free practice because he wasn’t checking his mirrors properly.
With just over half an hour on the clock, the teams fit the soft tire, the special extra soft C6, under the cars for the qualifying simulation. George Russell immediately sets the pace, and Max Verstappen is only four hundredths behind. But then the McLaren drivers take a serious run and dive four-tenths under that. The competition has been warned, once again.
At Ferrari, it’s mainly the engineers who are being warned. Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton complain over the radio about the lack of braking power of their scarlet cars. Not exactly a good advertisement for the Italian brand racing in their backyard this weekend.
In the final part of the session, the drivers, as usual in the second free practice, run the long runs. In other words, harder tires and fuller tanks to partially simulate the race. With only a few minutes left in the session, Isack Hadjar spins and gets stuck with the rear tires in the gravel. This means a red flag, and the Racing Bulls driver leaves the circuit on foot. With two minutes left on the clock, the remaining nineteen drivers go out so they can make a practice start.
This means that no one else challenges Piastri’s fastest time, and the Australian also finishes this session as the fastest. Verstappen is stuck at P5 and knows that there is still plenty of work to be done for Red Bull.
