F1 Emilia Romagna GP Live Updates - Saturday practice and qualifying
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Checkered flag
Magnussen takes to the grass at the final corner and that brings a premature end to his qualifying as the chequered flag is readied.
Albon follows that up with a lap good enough to move him up to seventh place for Red Bull, so should be safely through to the next session fo qualifying. Ricciardo now the unexpected name in the bottom five.
Stopwatch
Bottas finally puts a lap together good enough to escape the Q1 relegation zone. The Finn puts in a 1m14.634s to go P2 and 0.060s off Hamilton.
Ricciardo, the last of the 20 runners to log a time in the session, moves up to P11 with a 1m16.056s. Raikkonen, Albon and Bottas will definitely need to go out again along with the usual contenders aiming to escape Q1.
Bottas tumbles back down the timing screen as his personal best lap is deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 9. The same fate strikes both Albon and Raikkonen, so all three are in the Q1 drop zone.
Stopwatch
Hamilton, briefly pushed to third place by Leclerc and Verstappen, returns to the top with a 1m14.574s as team-mate Bottas slots into second place 0.052s off.
Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Bottas hit traffic on his first effort as he posts a time which puts him in last place.
Stopwatch
Hamilton restores some normality to the timing screen by going fastest with a 1m15.144s despite radioing about some potential damage to the front-right of his car after riding a kerb. Damage or not, his Mercedes is still a rocket.
Stopwatch
All the drivers are on the softs, as expected at this point of qualifying, as Verstappen splits the AlphaTauri 1-2 to go P2 with a 1m15.473s.
Stopwatch
Locals AlphaTauri now top the session with Kvyat posting a 1m15.412s to go fastest ahead of team-mate Gasly on a 1m15.734s.
Stopwatch
To no surprise at all Magnussen duly provides the first timed effort of the session with a 1m17.186s. For reference, Hamilton topped practice as the sole driver dipping into the 1m14s.
Green flag
But enough about what could happen tomorrow, let's focus on today as Q1 of qualifying gets underway, with a handful of cars taking to the track led by Magnussen.
Don't get us wrong, Imola is a stunning circuit and it is brilliant to see F1 back here after so long away but we are a little hesitant at predicting an all-time classic tomorrow afternoon.
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Obvious statement incoming: Qualifying is important in F1. And given how tight and narrow the Imola track looks for the current generation of F1 cars, overtaking is going to be extremely tricky tomorrow afternoon. Therefore, qualifying = important.
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There is precisely a 0% chance of rain for qualifying so Pirelli can safely store away those intermediate and wet tyres for another day. Track temperature is up to 26oC with the air temperature at a pleasant 19oC - probably as good as it gets for this time of year at Imola.
If we are looking for clues on how qualifying at Imola might play out, it was Bottas who claimed pole position in the shortened weekend in Germany ahead of Mercedes team-mate Hamilton. But different tracks and different challenges mean that's a very rough form guide.
It was an unintended consequence of the weather at the Nurburgring, but F1 has already had a chance to practice this new format given poor weather called off both Friday practice sessions at the Eifel GP earlier this month. So, it isn't all totally new.
A working lunch is the best way to describe what the F1 teams and drivers have been up to between practice and qualifying, with an ever so slightly longer break to allow them to digest this morning's laps and data.
Good afternoon! A quick hats off to James Newbold for overseeing a busy sole practice session this morning with some wonderful Imola memories. The action continues thick and fast this afternoon with qualifying starting in a little over 15 minutes.
Hamilton was the only man in the 1m14s bracket in practice, but will he face a renewed challenge from Verstappen come qualifying later on? You’ll have to find out from 1pm GMT, where Haydn Cobb will be taking you through qualifying. Until then, have a pleasant rest of your morning!
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Here's the full report from F1's official return to Imola for the first time since 2006 as Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes edged practice: 
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16 of the 20 drivers managed more than 40 laps in practice - with a session-high tally of 47 being completed by Bottas and Kvyat, Hamilton and Gasly just one behind on 46. A busy session all told, with plenty of lessons (hopefully) learned by the teams in such a congested period. Certainly a more interesting Saturday morning practice than Styria FP3...
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Information
Here's the full top 10 from practice then:
1. Hamilton
2. Verstappen
3. Bottas
4. Gasly
5. Leclerc
6. Ricciardo
7. Ocon
8. Kvyat
9. Albon
10. Stroll
1. Hamilton
2. Verstappen
3. Bottas
4. Gasly
5. Leclerc
6. Ricciardo
7. Ocon
8. Kvyat
9. Albon
10. Stroll
Another improvement at the end of the session moves Leclerc up to P5 for Ferrari, a 1m15.688s for the Monegasque. Still, thats almost six tenths up on Vettel, who remains P12 despite improving on his final effort.
Checkered flag
The checkered flag is out, that's the end of a full-on practice session for the Emilia Romagna GP, with Hamilton on top from Verstappen and Bottas.
Sainz in P14 and Norris in P16 are the only drivers in the session who haven't set their best times on the soft tyre. We can expect to see an improvement from them in qualifying later on, but just by how much? The midfield looks incredibly competitive this weekend.
That improvement for Kvyat came despite him reporting there's something loose in the cockpit of his car "hitting my hand". A small triumph against adversity for the Russian.
And sure enough, Vettel moves up to P12, bumping Grosjean's Haas back one spot. Leclerc too has improved, up to P8, but is instantly knocked back one spot by an improvement by Kvyat in the second AlphaTauri.
Vettel is also improving on softs, which should lift him off the bottom of the timesheets at last.
Stopwatch
Gasly's tyres hold together for another lap and he now moves up to P4, a 1m15.633 to put him within a second of Hamilton's benchmark.
The exceptions appear to be McLaren and AlphaTauri, as Gasly moves up to P6 - with Norris losing another time to track limits that would have been good enough for fifth.
We've seen very little movement on the timesheets in the last few minutes, which suggests most of the field are on similar run plans simulating race fuel loads. Just 10 minutes remaining in the session for anybody to have another go at a quali sim, should they wish to.
Bottas now comes out again on the medium after a quick pitstop. This looks a lot like a race simulation from Mercedes. Verstappen meanwhile has just switched onto the hard.
There's less than half a second separating Ricciardo in P4 from Kvyat in P11 at present, which suggests we could have a mouthwatering fight for Q3 in prospect. At present, that doesn't include either McLaren, who you'd expect to be in that battle.
The top three are all out on softs at the moment but not getting anywhere close to their times from earlier, which suggests they're running a bit more fuel to model the first stint of the race.
Well, we thought it was too good to be true - and sure enough, Magnussen and Bottas rack up track limits violations in quick succession. No rest for the stewards in race control today!
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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