Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Live text
Formula 1 Emilia Romagna GP

F1 Imola GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Saturday's action from the seventh round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

F1 returns to Imola having cancelled last year's event following extensive flooding in the Emilia-Romagna region.

FP3 starts at 11:30am BST (12:30pm local time) followed by qualifying at 3:00pm BST (4:00pm local time).

Live Text

Sort by
Newest first
If you haven't been with us so far this weekend, there are a host of Ayrton Senna tributes, 30 years on from his passing at this circuit.
Gasly has a Senna-esque helmet which looks fantastic!
The weather has been perfect so far this weekend and Imola will continue to be sun-baked for qualifying.
Still frantic work ongoing at Aston Martin, with the floor still resting against the back wall of the garage.
Pole for Red Bull and Verstappen is by no means a given this weekend. 
The team has yet to top a session, with the Dutchman struggling for confidence behind the wheel.
Perez's incident was rather more subtle than the Spaniard's, just knocking the front wing at the Variante Alta.
He will have no issues in taking to the track.
Aston Martin has been given a huge task by Alonso, who crashed at the second Rivazza.

“The team is still working flat out to get Fernando’s AMR24 ready for the start of Qualifying following his crash in FP3.”
McLaren secured a 1-2 in final practice earlier, where Alonso and Perez each crashed to trigger red flag periods.
Will that form continue into quali?
Hello and welcome back to coverage of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
Qualifying is just around the corner!
With that, it is time for a breather and a bite. We'll be back for the qualifying build-up, with Q1 starting at 3pm BST. Until then, go well!
Here's the full report on an eventful Imola GP final practice.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Both Alonso's Aston and Perez's Red Bull have just returned to the pits, so the respective teams are getting them back in the garages for a race to repair them for qualifying. They've got two hours and 15 minutes. Ready, set, go!
That FP3 had more action than most sprint races... which is ironic given that is the exact reason used in support of sprint races.
Piastri has been noted for the near-miss with Gasly and Leclerc, while all three of Ricciardo, Tsunoda and Magnussen have been noted for their incident a little later.
That messy end to FP3 didn't really reveal what is to come in qualifying. A McLaren 1-2 and a Ferrari 3-4 shows they'll be in the fight for pole, but will Red Bull or Mercedes join that tussle? And will Perez and Alonso have their cars repaired in time for quali following their crashes?
On Magnussen's final lap he had to take to the grass out of Acque Minerali as both RBs were dawdling in front of him. That one might be looked at by the stewards.
Norris is the only driver to improve on that messy end to FP3 and he goes second fastest - 0.3s off Piastri. It is a McLaren 1-2 at the end of practice.
Leclerc, Gasly and Piastri come so close to tripping over each other in order to start a lap before the chequered flag. But half the field won't get a lap in, including Russell, Verstappen and Hamilton.
But a queue at pitlane exit means everyone might not have time to set a lap time before the chequered flag comes out. The two Ferraris at the back of the pack are racing each other in order to get around in time.
The session resumes with two minutes of running remaining.
Replays reveal what happened to Perez. The Mexican took too much kerb going into the chicane and that unsettled his Red Bull and left him out of control and nudging the wall with his front wing.
The Red Bull driver has gone off coming out of Variante Alta - he reports he is OK. That has wrecked everyone else's soft tyre laps so we go into quali largely blind of the pack's pace!
Russell strikes first to go third, but not for long as Piastri goes quickest overall with a 1m15.529s.
Stroll moves up to seventh with his final soft tyre run ahead of qualifying. There is a queue coming out of pitlane and everyone coming out has fresh sets of softs on. Pre-quali coming up!

Is Imola the prettiest track F1 has visited so far this year? Suzuka and Albert Park probably the other contenders.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Those on track, Bottas and Sargeant, break into the top 10 in ninth and 10th respectively while a few moments ago Albon moved up to sixth on the times.
A slight lull in the track action as we move into the final 15 minutes of the session. Both Red Bulls and Norris are yet to touch the soft tyres in FP3 so we're keen to see where they stack up.
Hamilton improves but can only climb to ninth ahead of Ricciardo. Tsunoda has snuck up to seventh unnoticed - on the mediums too. That RB looks decent around Imola.
Piastri runs wide out of Rivazza and over the gravel and grass which wrecks what looked to be a decent lap.
Hamilton says his Mercedes is "riding high" which could be a case of the team overcompensating for a bumpy track but as a result is losing downforce.
Mercedes looks distinctly fourth fastest again, with Russell seventh and Hamilton ninth following their soft tyre runs. Ricciardo splits them after a solid lap on mediums.
Piastri, on softs, moves up to third just 0.190s off the top time still held by Sainz.
Almost all drivers are on track now, just missing Magnussen and Bottas. And Alonso, of course, but we won't be seeing him for the rest of the session.
Both Alpines, RBs and Piastri nip out but on a mix of medium and soft tyres, so no full qualifying sims yet. Meanwhile the medical car is parked in front of the Red Bull garage when the green light at the end of pitlane was shown so it is trying to get back in position while the track is live.
The session is back under way after a speedy clean up job. No early takers, but it'll be qualifying simulation time soon.

Our eyes at the track caught Alonso's off from the inside of the main straight.

Photo by: Sam Hall

Due to the force of the hit the medical car has been deployed to check over Alonso. The car is being recovered by the marshals as Aston mechanics prepare to assess the damage with an eye on qualifying.
Alonso is OK and he has walked away from his Aston that is buried in the barriers. The replays show him losing the rear of his car going into the second part of Rivazza and with the short run-off he plants the rear of his Aston into the wall.

By: Autosport Staff

Published: