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Formula 1 Emilia Romagna GP

F1 Emilia Romagna GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & Qualifying

All of Friday's F1 action, including qualifying for the Emilia Romagna GP sprint race

Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin

Charles Leclerc leads the early F1 drivers’ world championship by 34 points from Mercedes’ George Russell, following his dominant victory at the Australian GP last time out.

This weekend marks the first F1 sprint race format of the season, which means qualifying is pushed forward to Friday afternoon and the sprint race takes place on Saturday afternoon.

Opening practice for the Emilia Romagna GP gets underway at 12.30pm BST (1.30pm local time), followed by qualifying which starts at 4pm BST (5pm local time).

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Zhou and Bottas have gambled early with the soft tyres while everyone else on the track so far is on the intermediates.
Lights green
Here we go for Q1, lots of drivers heading out of the pits straight away.
But the helicopter shots show things look pretty gloomy with thick clouds overhead. It is that tricky in between.
Rain
F1 race control states it is currently "low grip conditions" and a "wet track", but it was improving lap by lap during F3 qualifying which finished 20 minutes ago. If the rain stays away it could lead to a switch to dry tyres late on.
None of those fiddly grid penalties to worry about - yet - so this'll be a normal Q1, Q2 and Q3 fight to decide the starting order for tomorrow's sprint race. Given the tricky nature of overtaking at Imola it will be a crucial session.

It is the regular qualifying format that everyone is familiar with and this will declare the driver who claims pole position for the Emilia Romagna GP – but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will start from P1 for Sunday’s grand prix due to the sprint race.

Good afternoon! Who is ready for qualifying? That's right, it is a sprint race weekend after all.
And we'll be back a little bit later for qualifying - which will set the grid for Saturday's sprint shenanigans. See you shortly!
Breaking news
Here's the report from a very damp opening practice session at Imola: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-emilia-romagna-gp-leclerc-leads-ferrari-1-2-ahead-of-verstappen/10118181/
Bottas has beached it, so he'll need a collection crew to pick him up. Doesn't look like there was any contact with the barrier, but he's just perched on the bank so can't reverse his Alfa Romeo.
Yellow flag
Oh yikes, Bottas has come to a stop just ahead of the barrier at Acque Minerali. "Yeah, just trying to reverse," he says over the radio.
Checkered flag
And there's the chequered flag; Leclerc leads from Sainz, Verstappen and Magnussen.
Magnussen and Vettel head out for some final laps, as do Russell and Zhou.
Green flag
The session now resumes with three minutes remaining.
Off track
Norris has managed to pull that out of the gravel and get going again, so it won't be a very long red flag period at all.
Crash
R-r-red flag. Norris is beached in the gravel at Turn 12.
Quote
"Big wake-up issue for this tyre," Hamilton reports. I massively relate to that tyre - luckily, Pirelli is no stranger to good, readily-available coffee.
Schumacher gets up to fifth behind team-mate Magnussen, meaning both Red Bulls sandwich the Haas duo as Perez sits sixth.
Verstappen raises a hand as he comes across a slow Latifi, as Alonso has a slip at Acque Minerali.
Stopwatch
That's a 1m29.402s for Leclerc, smashing below the 1m30s barrier to go fastest.
Stopwatch
Sainz continues to bring the times down, setting a 1m30.279s to cement his advantage.
Verstappen's in P3 again in the 1m32s, as Magnussen is on pace with the leading pack too.
Stopwatch
That's a 1m30.803s for Sainz, getting a tow from Leclerc as the Monegasque had another excursion at the Fausto Gresini/Variante Alta chicane.
Verstappen's into third with a time in the 1m33s, nosing ahead of Vettel, as both Ferraris are on quicker laps.
Stopwatch
Leclerc then finds a tenth over his Ferrari team-mate and pumps in a 1m32.512s to go fastest.
Stopwatch
Sainz then brings the time down to a 1m32.606s, finding a hatful more time despite a few snatchy moments at the chicanes.
Stopwatch
There's a 1m33.716s for Sainz, who goes fastest on the inters. Magnussen, meanwhile, also visits Rivazza's popular gravel trap and skips across the stones to return to the track.
Sainz and Ricciardo now add inters to their cars, so there's certainly more takers. Norris underlines the pace by going P2 with a 1m35.502s. Stroll, meanwhile, goes off-road at Rivazza - a popular destination, it seems.
Norris is now out on the inters too, as Stroll moves up to P8. Looks like they need a few laps to dial in those marginally less grooved tyres.
Stroll gets up to P11 on the intermediates, having bowled a wide at Acque Minerali on the previous lap.
So we can expect to see some of the bigger-name runners bolt on the green-walled intermediate rubber as the circuit dries up, although the rest out there are still running on the wets.
That's now P4 for Vettel now, posting a 1m36.131s.
Vettel has gone out on the intermediates to go fifth, as Aston Martin team-mate Stroll has followed suit.
Breaking news
With half an hour left, here's the current top 10 order: Perez, Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen, Vettel, Gasly, Magnussen, Tsunoda, Alonso, Ricciardo.
A lot of cars retreating to the pits now, with just Bottas, Vettel, Zhou and Albon out on the road.
Matt Kew
Matt Kew

"Trackside down at the exit of Tamburello and I’m no Carol Kirkwood, but I’d describe conditions now as ‘spitting’ only. In other words, the cars will be removing more water from the track that is currently coming down.

"Leclerc is certainly not afraid to attack the inside kerbs at Tamburello. Lots of oversteer as a result each lap as he runs over the slippery paint. Hamilton also on it fairly soon into this session. The nose looks to dart in on the Merc to give him confidence."

By: autosport.com

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