McLaren’s stranglehold at the top of F1 continued in first practice at Imola, with Oscar Piastri leading a 1-2.

After a raft of upgrades introduced across the field for the first European round of the year, the usual names were at the front as Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris in first practice.

Oscar Piastri leads McLaren 1-2 in Imola FP1

Piastri set a 1:16.545 on the soft tyre compound to finish 0.032 clear of Norris on the same tyre compound as McLaren enjoyed the warm track temperatures of the Italian circuit.

With the tarmac a toasty 40 degrees, the MCL39 was just half a tenth clear of Williams’ Carlos Sainz, while Mercedes’ George Russell was just a further 0.02 seconds down.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Ferrari, having got on team radio to complain about what he felt was a brake test from Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar out of the Variante Alta, but also drew the ire of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg as the German encountered a dawdling Hamilton at the top of the hill at Piratella.

Sixth went to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. With the RB21 one of the cars boasting updates in the name of season development rather than circuit specificity, Verstappen could be seen struggling with the rear of the car and he radioed in to say that he couldn’t trust what it was doing.

He finished in seventh, almost four-tenths down on the pace shown by Piastri, while it was also a tough session for his teammate Yuki Tsunoda as the Japanese driver encountered traffic on several of his push laps – much to his frustration.

The session came to an end a few minutes prematurely as Gabriel Bortoleto went off into the barriers at Rivazza, damaging the front end of his car.

2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (Imola) – First Practice (FP1)

1. 1. Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:16.545
2. 2. Lando Norris McLaren +0.032
3. 3. Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.052
4. 4. George Russell Mercedes +0.054
5. 5. Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.096
6. 6. Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.151
7. 7. Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.360
8. 8. Alex Albon Williams +0.377
9. 9. Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +0.380
10. 10. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +0.453
11. 11. Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.487
12. 12. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.532
13. 13. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.549
14. 14. Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.576
15. 15. Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +0.741
16. 16. Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +0.811
17. 17. Franco Colapinto Alpine +0.828
18. 18. Oliver Bearman Haas +0.901
19. 19. Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1.096
20. 20. Esteban Ocon Haas +1.117

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