Norris Leads Piastri and Verstappen in Final Practice at Imola

Lando Norris topped the timesheets in the final practice session at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday, positioning himself as a strong contender for pole position. He finished ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull`s Max Verstappen.

After Piastri was faster in both Friday practice sessions at Imola, Norris reversed the order in this crucial final session before the all-important qualifying hour.

Norris`s fastest lap on the soft tyres was 1:14.897, exactly one tenth of a second quicker than Piastri. Piastri`s best time came on his second lap with Pirelli`s new softest compound, suggesting the tyre`s peak performance might have already passed by then.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull finished third, 0.181 seconds behind Norris. Notably, Verstappen set his quickest lap on the theoretically slower medium tyre and couldn`t improve his time on the softs.

Verstappen has recently been strong in qualifying, taking pole in three of the last four races, including the last two ahead of McLaren. Red Bull appears to have made progress improving the handling of his car after a challenging start to the weekend in Practice One.

Verstappen wasn`t alone in setting his fastest time on the mediums. Pirelli`s new C6 compound, the softest and quickest available this weekend, seemed challenging for many drivers to keep within its optimal operating window over the full 3.05-mile Imola lap.

Cooler, cloudier conditions on Saturday at Imola might favour McLaren, as they seem to manage tyre preservation particularly well.

Local favourite Kimi Antonelli improved late on soft tyres to take fourth for Mercedes, but was still half a second adrift of Norris. McLaren`s one-two finishes through practice suggest they are currently the team to beat.

Charles Leclerc was the quicker Ferrari driver in fifth place. Lewis Hamilton, who had reported braking issues on Friday, finished tenth, three tenths behind Leclerc, after making a mistake and going into the gravel at the second Rivazza corner.

Williams showed good pace, with Carlos Sainz in sixth and Alex Albon in ninth. Racing Bulls` Isack Hadjar recovered from his Friday crash to secure seventh place, ahead of George Russell in the second Mercedes.

Sky Sports F1 pundit Anthony Davidson commented on the session: “There`s a lot to analyze after that session. The two McLarens are still ahead, though not by a large margin. Verstappen`s best time was on the medium tyre. The question is whether Red Bull can extract enough performance from the softs, which they seemed to be lacking. We might see another performance similar to Verstappen`s dominant win at Suzuka.”

Emilia Romagna GP Practice Three Timesheet