Emilia Romagna GP: Piastri Leads McLaren 1-2 in Second Practice, Hamilton & Leclerc Face Brake Issues

In the second practice session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri secured the top spot ahead of his teammate Lando Norris, ensuring a strong end to Friday for McLaren.

Piastri, who currently holds a 16-point advantage over Norris in the Drivers` Championship, was marginally faster, beating Norris by just 0.025 seconds. Alpine`s Pierre Gasly finished in a surprising third place.

George Russell of Mercedes was four tenths off the leading pace in fourth, narrowly ahead of Red Bull`s Max Verstappen in fifth and Ferrari`s Charles Leclerc in sixth.

Leclerc and his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton (who finished 11th) both reported issues with their brakes. Ferrari even dismantled Hamilton`s brakes mid-session to try and resolve the problem.

Like other leading teams, Ferrari introduced upgrades at their home race in Imola, including modifications to the rear aimed at improving instability. However, Hamilton`s significant deficit of 0.650 seconds to pace-setter Piastri suggests these updates may not have yielded the desired progress yet.

Elsewhere on track, Racing Bull`s Isack Hadjar spun at the high-speed first chicane and became beached in the gravel after lightly touching the barrier while attempting to rejoin. Despite this, Hadjar ended the session in seventh, ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda in eighth. The Williams pair of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz completed the top ten.

Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli struggled to put a clean lap together and finished 18th in his first home event. Franco Colapinto was 13th for Alpine on his first Friday replacing Jack Doohan for a five-race stint.

Piastri vs Norris in Imola?

While Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari hoped their upgrades would bring them closer to McLaren, Friday`s practice sessions hinted at a potential McLaren duel between Piastri and Norris for pole position in Saturday`s qualifying.

Typically, competing teams tend to find more performance when it counts. However, McLaren`s own updates appear effective, and both McLaren drivers felt they could have gone even faster.

On his quickest lap, Piastri was hindered by dirty air from a car ahead at the final corner. Norris was on track to set the fastest time on his second attempt before a large slide, also at Turn 18.

“It wouldn`t be the first Friday where we look strong and everyone finds a bit more going into qualifying,” said Piastri. “We still want to find a bit more, but everything has gone pretty smoothly. The car is feeling decent. Still a few more things to tweak, but all in all, not bad.”

“Saturdays have been important pretty much everywhere. Imola is a place where qualifying means a lot, but at the moment, I don`t think it`s just Lando and I. I think there are a few others that will join us in the fight, so we have to keep our heads down and try and find a bit more.”

Norris commented that he felt he made a “step forward” in Miami after earlier season struggles compared to last year. He described understanding the car as a “longer project” but was “pretty happy” with his performance on Friday.

“I`m sure he [Piastri] is going to find things too. FP2 we always look good, we always look better than everyone and then we get to qualifying and they catch up,” Norris added.

“I don`t think we are in a comfortable place, we still have work to do. Alpine were quick, they have always been quick here. I`m sure Red Bull will catch up and Mercedes will be on it just when they turn their engines up. So nothing to be comfortable with. But I think a productive Friday.”

Verstappen Dissatisfied, Gasly Hits Rabbit

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen expressed dissatisfaction with the rear of his Red Bull car during first practice. Despite significant changes made by Red Bull throughout the day, he finished nearly half a second adrift of McLaren.

“We tried a lot of bits. Some worked better than others, but overall, not fast enough at the moment,” he stated. “We need more work to get a better corner balance to go faster. It`s the same in the long runs. I mean, I got overtaken by the McLarens, which says enough, right? They pulled away. Even then, compared to other teams around us, it was a bit tough.”

Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly had what he described as his “best Friday so far,” finishing sixth in FP1 and third in FP2. However, the Alpine driver revealed an unusual incident during the first session: he hit a rabbit.

“Very sadly there was a big rabbit jumping across the track and I could not avoid it, so I had a big impact on the front wing,” said Gasly. “Unfortunately, that was it for the rabbit and I broke the front wing. It is quite unfortunate because we always try to look after our parts, so when such things happen it`s not great.”

Emilia Romagna GP Practice Two Timesheet