After a difficult opening session, Max Verstappen was straight on the pace in FP2 for the Emilia Romagna GP, setting a 1;16.930 on the medium tyres in his very first run, a time already better than Leclerc’s 1:16.990 in FP1, putting him 0.050s ahead of Norris and 0.089s ahead of Leclerc as the first run on mediums unfolded.
Nico Hulkenberg -who is racing in Imola for the first time in his career – was sloweet in FP1 and things didn’t improve much for the German at the start of FP2, as he reported something “not right” in his VF-24.
Pierre Gasly spun his Alpine around at exit of Variante Alta, after clattering the inside kerb, but managed to get going again without further issues.
Yuki Tsunoda put in an impressive lap for RB just 10 minutes into the session, setting a 1:16.895 on the medium tyres to pip Verstappen by three hundredths, but that was soon beaten by Verstappen with a 1:16.734.
Fastest in FP1, Charles Leclerc continued his strong form, beating Verstappen’s latest run in similar conditions, setting a 1:16.677. His team-mate Carlos Sainz soon followed, taking P2 just three milliseconds back from the Monegasque.
Fernando Alonso was left unimpressed after being indirectly block by Lewis Hamilton on a fast lap, saying the Mercedes driver “thinks he’s alone on track”.
After stopping on track in FP1 with an unidentified power unit issue, Alex Albon didn’t feature in the early part of FP2, as the Williams team tried to fix some damage on his underfloor. His team-mate Logan Sargeant was also absent from the initial part of second practice, in a difficult start from the Grove team.
After 20 minutes of running, the classified order of the top 10 was: Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen, Tsunoda, Norris, Perez, Russell, Hamilton, Piastri and Alonso.
There was a bit of a lull on track as the cars went back to the pits to give back a mandatory set of Pirelli tyres, but soon the track came alive again.
George Russell was the first to go on the soft tyres, but couldn’t reach the top 3, with a time only good enough for P4 behind the earlier medium runners.
Winner last time out in Miami, Lando Norris lit up the timing screens with a blistering lap on the soft tyres, but lost it all at the final corner as he went off in the gravel and had to back out.
Leclerc then went quickest with a 1:15.969, over four-and-a-half tenths clear of Sainz and over seven tenths clear of Hamilton, both on the soft tyres. Yuki Tsunoda went P4 as he continued to show strong form.
Verstappen’s struggles from FP1 didn’t seem to be completely remedied in FP2, as he didn’t improve his middle sector in his fast lap despite being on softer tyres, and could only manage P4, nearly half-a-second back from Leclerc. His team-mate
Sergio Perez then went sixth fastest behind him, just over a tenth back.
Oscar Piastri went second fastest just 0.129s behind Leclerc, the Australian finally sporting the full set of McLaren upgrades that Norris enjoyed in Miami.
The two Mercedes drivers improved their times further, with Hamilton and Russell in P3 and P4 respectively, a third of a second back from Leclerc. But they were soon pipped by Tsunoda, who set a time good enough for P3, 0.017s faster than the seven-time world champion.
Sainz tried to improve his time on his second lap on the same set of tyres, but went wide at the Variante Alta and had to bail out.
Leclerc then improved his benchmark a little bit further, setting a 1:15.906 to put him nearly two tenths clear of Piastri.
Former title rivals Hamilton and Verstappen had an impeding incident going through the Villeneuve chicane, and as the pair worried about each other they massively impeded Sergio Perez, who was incoming on a fast lap. The Dutchman then said on the radio he “didn’t know” Perez was coming through.
After all the drivers ran the soft tyres with just 20 minutes of the session remaining, the classified order of the top 10 was: Leclerc, Piastri, Tsunoda, Hamilton, Russell, Sainz, Verstappen, Perez, Hulkenberg and Alonso.
Outside the top 10, Daniel Ricciardo was in P11 – over seven tenths back from Tsunoda, and Lando Norris ended up in P12 after having to abandon his run due to running wide at Rivazza 2. Rounding out the field were Stroll, Ocon, Gasly, Bottas, Magnussen, Albon, Zhou and Sargeant.
After his impressive performance throughout the session, all is not well for Yuki Tsunoda, who will be investigated after the session for a practice start infrigement, as he went out of the pits to do his practice start, which is forbidden in practice according to the race director’s notes for this weekend.
As the long runs unfolded, there was a bit of an incident between Perez and Leclerc, with the Monegasque feeling like he was impeded by the Mexican through the Villeneuve chicane, and throwing his Ferrari down the inside in an agressive manner at the Tosa hairpin.
Verstappen’s difficult Friday didn’t get any easier in the long runs, as he ran wide and onto the gravel trap in Rivazza after locking up his tyres, but managed to get back on track.
