F1 Emilia Romagna GP Live Updates - Saturday practice and qualifying
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Verstappen has lowered the benchmark again on a 1m17.047s, putting him half a second clear of Sainz's McLaren with Lecler the only other man in the 1m17s bracket so far.
Track limits are being monitored at Turns 9 and 15 this weekend, but that's not stopping the quickly escalating number of deletions as Perez, Verstappen, Gasly and Kvyat become the latest men to have laps docked.
Several drivers are having laps deleted for track limits as they see how far they can go. Gasly, Latifi (one of only three drivers on medium tyres at present) and Norris are only the three most recent drivers to be pinged.
Stopwatch
Times are constantly improving - Leclerc went back to the top, but by the time we finished composing this update he's already been bumped back to ninth, with Verstappen moving the goalposts on a 1m18.280s.
Stopwatch
As drivers cross the timing beam for the first time, Charles Leclerc is quickly bumped from the top of the timing screens first by Raikkonen and now Sainz on a 1m20.983s.
Autosport
A few major exceptions to that are AlphaTauri pairing Gasly and Kvyat, who tested here pre-season (before Imola was announced as joining the calendar) and Racing Point's Lance Stroll, who had a refresher test in a Prema GP2 car: 
It looks like everybody is out on hard tyres for their first exploratory laps of the circuit. Remember, a fair portion of the field won't have raced here before, so simulator mileage will be their only experience of driving the track.
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Under beautiful blue skies, both Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas head out, along with the Alfas, Ferraris, McLarens and Haas cars.
Green flag
And we're underway in Imola for the *checks* Emilia Romagna GP. No time wasted by the teams as several drivers all head out of the pits at the start of the session.
The defining moment of the race came at the Tosa hairpin where Lauda cleared the polesitting Ferrari of Gilles Villeneuve, only for the Canadian to run into the back of him and brake his front wing. It would be the first of many frustrating encounters with the Imola track for the Canadian carrying the #27...
Indeed, it was at the Dino Ferrari GP - held as a qualifying round before Imola could join the world championship proper in 1980 - that Niki Lauda scored the final win of his first F1 career for Brabham, opting to quit weeks later during practice for the Canadian GP at Mosport.
We'll be honest, it's still taking some getting used to that this weekend isn't the San Marino Grand Prix. In fact, it's only the fourth time a grand prix has been held at Imola when it hasn't been called that - after the non-championship Imola GP and Dino Ferrari GP of 1963 and 1979 and the Italian GP of 1980.
So what are conditions like today? You'll be pleased to know that risk of rain is 0%, with air temperature of 15.4 °C and track temperature at 18.0 °C, with conditions expected to rise this morning.
Autosport
An interested observer in the paddock this weekend, wearing full team kit, is Fernando Alonso. The double world champion has admitted it will take him "a couple of races" to get back up to speed with a contemporary F1 car next year, and is set to test in a two-year old car next week in Bahrain: 
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Here's your 10-minute warning before the one and only practice session of this two-day F1 weekend commences. Get those kettles brewing.
Autosport
Gasly said he was 'surprised' not to be considered for a return to Red Bull, having scored a surprise victory at Monza and led the junior team capably alongside the more experienced Daniil Kvyat, but Christian Horner challenged the Frenchman by saying he was a "key part" of the AlphaTauri set-up. 
Autosport
Gasly, of course, was confirmed this week as staying at AlphaTauri next year, despite increasing pressure on the man who replaced him in the second Red Bull, Alex Albon. With George Russell now staying at Williams, closing off a potential avenue for Sergio Perez, could the Mexican end up in a Red Bull? He was in - ahem - bullish mood on Friday, saying he won't wait much longer: 
Autosport
Imola, of course, will forever be synonymous with the death of Ayrton Senna in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix after his Williams veered straight on at Tamburello and struck the outside wall at unabated speed. Coming one day after the death of Simtek rookie Roland Ratzenberger on Saturday, it was a seminal weekend for F1 and is marked this weekend by AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly running a Senna tribute helmet: 
Many of you will remember that Ide lost his license for that clumsy lunge on Albers - sparking an enjoyable round of musical chairs in the second Super Aguri that year which allowed Franck Montagny and Sakon Yamamoto (remember him?) to make their F1 debuts.
It's F1's first time back at the track the track since 2006, when Michael Schumacher scored his seventh Imola victory for Ferrari and Yuji Ide famously tipped Christijan Albers' Midland into a multiple barrell roll. Kimi Raikkonen, the only man still on the grid from back then, finished fifth in a tough season for McLaren.
A very good morning to you all around the world and welcome to Imola for round 13 of this madcap 2020 Formula 1 season.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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