Leclerc tops both Imola F1 practice sessions as Verstappen struggles
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari delighted the local fans as he topped the two practices for the team's home Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy on Friday, while champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull struggled throughout both sessions.
After topping the timesheets in the first practice, he improved his time to 1 minute 15.906 seconds in the afternoon session around the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
He was followed by the McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who was 0.192s behind, and by Yuki Tsunoda of Visa RB, who was a surprise in third.
Verstappen was fifth in the morning session and could only manage the seventh best time in second practice. In both sessions he complained about a lack of grip and ran off the track several times.
Ferrari and Mercedes are among the teams that brought upgrades to Imola, but Red Bull also have new parts as they try to bounce back from a defeat at the Miami Grand Prix two weeks ago.
The champions claimed victory in all but one of the 22 races held in 2023, but they've already been beaten twice in six events this year thanks to efforts from Carlos Sainz of Ferrari in Australia and McLaren's Lando Norris in Miami.
In Australia, however, Verstappen didn't complete the race due to an issue in his car.
Last practice and qualifying are on Saturday ahead of Sunday's race.
Imola last hosted a race two years ago. Last season's event was cancelled after horrific flooding hit the Emilia-Romagna region, where the circuit is located.
