Saturday F1 storylines: Game on in Imola

If Friday’s two practice sessions at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix were any indication, Saturday’s qualifying session could be previewed with a simple two-word phrase.

Game Start.

With a number of teams, including Red Bull, bringing upgrades to Imola (more on those later), Friday offered a glimpse of what can happen when lap times really matter. When the dust settled on Friday, Charles Leclerc led both FP1 and FP2, but Max Verstappen could only lament that it was a “bad day”.

“It was a difficult day,” Verstappen admitted. F1.com. “[It was] It’s just hard to balance, [I was] However, the inside of the car is not very comfortable. Because I travel a lot, it’s easy to lose my car. [there are] Here are some things we need to see today [was] It’s just bad and it’s not comfortable. ”

While Verstappen struggled, other drivers did well. Let’s start with Mercedes. There were positive signs from both drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell after practice. Silver Arrow brought in the second half of the upgrade package introduced at the Miami Grand Prix, and both drivers seemed to have become quite accustomed to the W15, finishing within the top 10 in FP1 and within the top 5 in FP2.

“It was a good start to the weekend. I had a productive day and was able to run all three compounds,” said Hamilton. “The balance of the car was good and I felt positive. Some of the other teams look fast, especially McLaren and Ferrari, but we are much closer than we have been so far this season. But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, so let’s see what tomorrow holds.”

“The car felt great today and both Lewis and I were happy behind the wheel,” Russell added. “We looked pretty competitive and were slightly closer to the front of the field than we saw in Miami. We’ll come into qualifying tomorrow and know exactly where we are in the standings. It will be.”

There was also optimism for McLaren, with Oscar Piastri finishing second in FP1 and ninth in FP2. Teammate Lando Norris, who took his first F1 career win in Miami, was eighth in FP1 and 12th in FP2, but put in a brutal push lap in the first practice session and was extremely slow in the first two sectors. It was fast. But I saw him come out of the lap towards the end.

“I think today was one of the better Fridays for us and we look like we’re in a pretty good position. It’s a very tough situation so we’ll see what we can find for tomorrow, but it’s encouraging. It was day.” Piastri said.. “I felt pretty comfortable from the first lap this morning, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. The team did a good job with the rest of the upgrades on my car, so thank you to them.”

However, if there is one biggest threat to Red Bull at the moment, it appears to be one of the home teams. Ferrari introduced a much-needed set of upgrades at Imola after picking up the pace in a two-day shoot last week, but it was certainly positive to see Leclerc lead both sessions.

flat F1.com Race pace simulation shows how close it will be between Ferrari and Red Bull on Sunday:

However, today is Saturday, and we’re told it could be an even better day for Ferrari. F1.comQualification simulation:

“Overall it was a positive day. Everything went well and we were able to perform all of our scheduled tests on time. So far we are looking pretty competitive, but tomorrow The conditions will change quite a bit, especially in terms of the wind, so we’ll have to expect that,” Leclerc said after the session. “The update seems to be working as expected, which is another positive.”

But it’s still Verstappen we’re talking about. As we have seen, the Red Bull driver endured some frustrating practice sessions and took pole position the following day. It is still very likely that Verstappen will be back again later today, especially with another practice session to refine the RB20 set-up.

But as this Saturday dawns, it certainly looks like the game is on in Imola.

VCARB shocker?

If you dig deeper F1.com If you do a little qualifying simulation, you might notice something.

Visa Cash App RB How close is the F1 team to Mercedes?

Friday was a strong day for the team, especially Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda finished 6th in the first practice session and an impressive 3rd in FP2. Daniel Ricciardo fell a little behind his teammate, finishing 13th in FP1 and 11th in FP2, but the RB01 showed on-time pace for both drivers.

According to sporting director Alan Permane, the goal for both drivers should be to advance to Q3.

“It was a bit of a mixed day for us. Starting with Yuki, he was happy with his car from the first lap of the day and grew in confidence from that. “We ran all the tire compounds and he set his fastest lap on the softs midway through FP2 and was generally happy with the car,” Permane said in the team’s post-practice report. “As always, there are a few little things to focus on tonight to further fine-tune and improve for tomorrow’s FP3 and qualifying. Daniel, on the other hand, is not too happy and has He complained about oversteer on the lap. It has improved and he is happy with the car overall.

“There is still work to do, but tonight we will analyze the situation and move him closer to the front of the grid, which will allow both cars to aim for Q3 tomorrow afternoon.”

As for Tsunoda, as Permane pointed out, he was happy from the first lap of the day.

“I’m feeling good. It’s been a very positive and stable day for us since starting in FP1 and we’re looking forward to the next few days of our home race. It’s back to a normal weekend again, moving forward and putting in some laps. I feel more comfortable and less stressed because I know I have time,” Tsunoda said. “At the same time, the performance came quickly. Now it’s just a matter of continuing to go from session to session and putting everything together and maximizing the package for the car. Right now we have a good chance of finishing in the top 10, but what It can happen and the midfield is still very tight so we need to stay sharp.

“Of course we are aiming for the best possible position, but at the same time we are focused on getting the best performance out of the car.”

Will we see VCARB Shocker today?

prince of paddock

Required Leo Leclerc intermezzo:

Just like you were.

Nico Hulkenberg makes Imola debut

Nico Hulkenberg is no stranger to F1. He first appeared on the grid as a Williams driver in 2010 and has started 209 Grands Prix.

But this will be his first F1 weekend race at Imola.

So far, he’s enjoying the experience.

“This morning we did a little rake running to collect some aerodynamic data to compare the launch car with the current car. We went back to our normal program in FP2 and everything felt okay.” said Hulkenberg in his post-practice report from Haas. “It was very windy today so it was very difficult to drive the car as the grip was unstable and it was a bit easy to go off track. I’m here.”

As you can see from F1.com In qualifying and race simulations, Haas may have some work to do to close the gap to the teams ahead. However, team principal Ayao Komatsu said he had already seen improvements between FP1 and FP2.

“Ollie [Bearman] Drive FP1 instead of Kevin [Magnussen] And like before, he did a very good job,” Komatsu said. “In the first run we let him get used to the car and he drove decently on the soft tyres, high fuel and did a good job with tire management so that was also a really good job.” In FP1: It wasn’t a high performance session for Nico as he was having a bit of trouble with his car and we mainly used his car to collect data on this latest package.

“Kevin jumped on the car in FP2 and I think it’s pretty clear in some corners. We’re really struggling so we’ll look at some set-up changes for tomorrow.”Apart from that. In the corners with low cornering speeds, our performance is decent,” added the Haas boss. “As far as high fuel, I think our limits are pretty clear, so we’re going to work on that tonight. However, FP2 was already definitely a step better than FP1, so we’ll take it overnight to make it better tomorrow. We’ll see what changes we can make.”

Can we provide the necessary changes?

Is Logan Sargent running out of time?

Earlier this week, news broke that Williams and Alexander Albon had agreed a new “multi-year” deal that will see Albon stay on until the 2026 season, when new F1 regulations apply.

However, who his teammates will be seems up for debate.

Williams team principal James Vowles made his clearest statement yet regarding Logan Sargent on Friday, saying he is, in Vowles’ words, “at risk” of losing his seat at Williams next season. ”.talk to sky sports f1Vowles said he had a “direct conversation” with Sargent about how Driver was doing.

“But the simple fact, as I have already explained, is that he is in danger. Behind that is the simple fact,” Vowles said. “He has to perform better than he is. This is meritocracy. I’m helping him on that journey. I want him to be successful. But in the meantime, we We need to get the lineup right for ’25, ’26 and ’27, so we’re talking to a few other drivers.”

However, Vowles has made it clear that discussions regarding Sargent are for 2025 and beyond, and there is no plan to replace the second-year driver midway through the season. “[W]The hat I’m talking about is a 25, 26 year old driver. There’s nothing about the season. “What I’m talking about is how do you build the right foundation to move things forward,” he added. “I’m ready to say to the world, ‘This is where we belong.’ Part of that is out of respect for Logan. I gave him a chance, and here he is stepping towards things.” I have to upload it.”

Sargent finished 18th in FP1 and 20th in FP2.

“FP2 was certainly pretty seriously compromised. I was only able to do a few laps on low fuel, and in that I struggled a bit to get a start. [tire] It’s working, so that’s the main topic to focus on. The balance of the car is in a good place, but not everything is working well around it, so we need to understand that,” Sargent said after Friday’s practice session. “I’m really enjoying this track, it’s really cool, and I’m hitting my limits. It’s going to be a difficult match tomorrow, but I’m going to give it my all and get through everything.”

Vowles’ comments made it clear that Sargent is currently on thin ice. Can the second-year driver produce the results needed to defend his seat in 2025?