Charles Leclerc led Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz during Friday’s practice session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
The sole pre-qualifying practice session took place in entirely wet conditions, following heavy rainfall overnight and through the morning, though drivers were able to switch to Intermediate tyres after the midway point.
Leclerc, who spun three times during the session but avoided damage, wound up with a time of 1:29.402s to finish eight-tenths clear of Sainz.
World Champion Max Verstappen was third-fastest, 1.4s behind Verstappen, with a large field spread behind the title challengers.
Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher classified fourth and fifth respectively but were three seconds down on pacesetter Leclerc.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was sixth, ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who was first to switch to Intermediates.
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was ninth while George Russell was the sole Mercedes driver in the top 10 – albeit at the foot of it.
Lewis Hamilton was marooned down in 18th place after setting his quickest time on Wet tyres.
The majority of drivers avoided drama during the session but Lando Norris caused a brief red flag when he spun off at Acqua Minerale, while Valtteri Bottas had a high-speed spin at the same corner just as the chequered flag was shown.
Bottas stopped just short of the barriers but was unable to extricate his Alfa Romeo from the gravel trap.
Qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is scheduled for 17:00 local time
Position
Driver
Team
Time Gap
Laps
1
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1:29.402
24
2
Carlos Sainz Jr
Ferrari
1:30.279 0.877
25
3
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:30.867 1.465
21
4
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
1:32.439 3.037
23
5
Mick Schumacher
Haas
1:32.988 3.586
23
6
Sergio Perez
Red Bull
1:33.012 3.610
17
7
Fernando Alonso
Alpine
1:33.160 3.758
13
8
Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin
1:33.365 3.963
22
9
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
1:33.611 4.209
18
10
George Russell
Mercedes
1:34.262 4.860
21
11
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo
1:34.615 5.213
19
12
Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri
1:35.104 5.702
19
13
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
1:35.420 6.018
14
14
Lando Norris
McLaren
1:35.502 6.100
12
15
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren
1:35.625 6.223
15
16
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
1:36.033 6.631
23
17
Alex Albon
Williams
1:36.461 7.059
17
18
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:36.464 7.062
17
19
Guanyu Zhou
Alfa Romeo
1:37.450 8.048
22
20
Nicholas Latifi
Williams
1:39.698 10.296
15
