The opening practice session at Imola celebrated new moments in tyres and heroes, but it was the same McLaren story as Oscar Piastri topped the team’s sixth FP1 session in seven race weekends.

The championship leader clocked a 1:16.545 on the new Pirelli C6 tyres to beat his team-mate Lando Norris by 0.032s, with Carlos Sainz third quickest.

Oscar Piastri secures McLaren’s sixth P1 in FP1

Formula 1’s European run began on Friday with FP1 at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where a new tyre compound, a new driver and a new Italian favourite were on track.

The latter, Kimi Antonelli, went quickest on his opening lap to sit 0.017s ahead of Lando Norris. But only five minutes into the session, there was a lot of running still to be had.

Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc almost found theirs cut short, the Spaniard reporting: “I nearly crashed with Leclerc.” On his side, the Ferrari driver held up his hand in apology.

Oliver Bearman was back in the pits after just three laps as Haas checked the ride height of his upgraded VF-25, and made changes to the suspension.

Pirelli’s C6 sat at the top of the timesheet 20 minutes in, George Russell running the new softest tyre in the range on his way to a 1:16.599. That put him five-tenths up on Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda, with Gabriel Bortoleto in fourth the best-placed medium tyre runner.

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Pushing on his first set of the soft tyres, Max Verstappen had a rear-end moment through the final corner that saw him back off, down in 11th place. He reported his RB21 was “sliding a lot”.

Leclerc had a complaint of his own, “helmet lift is horrible”, while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton told Ferrari after going straight on at the chinca: “The car won’t stop at the moment.”

Halfway into the session, Russell was quickest with a 1:16.599, putting him 0.268s ahead of Carlos Sainz with Verstappen up third.

Oscar Piastri made his mark shortly after, overhauling Russell by 0.054s with Pierre Gasly up to third in the Alpine. Norris joined his team-mate at the front for a McLaren 1-2, Hamilton also improving his time as he went P4. The top four were separated by less than a tenth of a second.

The Williams team-mates both felt the drop-off of the new C6 tyres as Alex Albon went quickest in the first sector but finished up P8, while Sainz had similar drop off on his way to sixth. Sainz went quicker on his second lap on that same set of softs, up to third.

Heading into the final five minutes, Piastri sat P1 ahead of Norris and Sainz. Verstappen, in sharp contrast, let his steering wheel know his thoughts on his RB21 as he sat P7, almost four-tenths down.

And that’s how it ended as Bortoleto binned his Aston Martin nose-first into the barrier, bringing out the red flag with just 2 minutes on the clock. That effectively ended the session.

Emilia-Romagna FP1 times

1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:16.545
2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.032
3 Carlos Sainz Williams +0.052
4 George Russell Mercedes +0.054
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.096
6 Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.151
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +.360
8 Alexander Albon Williams +0.377
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber +0.380
10 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber +0.453
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.487
12 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.532
13 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.549
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.576
15 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +0.741
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing +0.811
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine +0.828
18 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +0.901
19 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1.096
20 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1.117

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