Oscar Piastri heads McLaren 1-2 in Imola FP1

Oscar Piastri fronted a McLaren 1-2 in a close opening practice session for Formula 1’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Piastri posted a time of 1:16.545s to finish just 0.028s clear of team-mate Lando Norris in a session in which the majority of the field were covered by less than one second.

Piastri, who has won four of six grands prix this year, moved to the front midway through the session, displacing Mercedes’ George Russell.

Norris also moved ahead of his compatriot though came narrowly short of denying the championship leader top spot.

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Williams displayed encouraging early performance as Carlos Sainz finished as the fastest non-McLaren driver in third position, just 0.052s behind Piastri, while Alex Albon was eighth despite two trips through the run-off.

Russell wound up in fourth place, in front of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who recovered from an earlier trip through the grass at the Gresini chicane to take fifth, setting the fastest first sector time on a lap which he ultimately abandoned.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was sixth while World Champion Max Verstappen – winner of the last three grands prix at Imola – was left down in seventh.

Verstappen was 0.360s off Piastri’s pace and complained that he was “drifting everywhere” amid a lack of faith in the rear of the RB21.

Sauber showed uplifting potential through the course of the session as Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10, but the promising times were balanced by Bortoleto ending the session in the wall.

The rookie lost control of the C45 into the final corner and nosed the front of the car into the wall, wrecking the front wing but damaging little else, bringing the session to an early conclusion two minutes from the scheduled end.

Charles Leclerc, who missed Thursday’s activities due to illness, was a low-key 12^th, one spot ahead of local driver Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes.

Franco Colapinto made his official return to Formula 1 as part of his initial five-event evaluation with Alpine.

Colapinto, who has taken part in several private test days through the early stages of this year, dipped a wheel through the gravel exiting the Villeneuve chicane on his first Soft tyre run before resetting and going again. The lap proved fast enough for only 17^th place, leaving him quicker than just the two Haas drivers and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.