Key events
Fernando Alonso says: ‘Hold my (non-alcoholic) beer.’ He goes to the top of the timesheet.
Carlos Sainz lowers his Williams teammate’s time, but then Gasly nips ahead to go fastest.
The FIA has noted the Colopinto error. Gasly in the clear, it seems.
A reminder that Alex Albon is currently quickest, that should change very soon.
Alpine’s Franco Breakfast and Pierre Gasly appear to be the guilty parties. They might get grid place penalties for that. We shall see.
Qualifying to restart at 4.20pm (local time). Some drivers are already out, are they high?
Here is the crash. It is a credit to the safety features of the cars that Tsunoda was able to walk away. He will take a precautionary trip to the medics, of course.
The crane has removed Tsunoda’s car from the race wall, which could need some repair itself. No word on the restart time as yet.
Qualifying has been paused. Fortunately, Tsunoda seems OK. He walked away from the crash. Sky is saying on the broadcast that Christian Horner abandoned his seat on the pit wall. The Japanese driver has not been keeping pace with Verstappen during practice and could be coming under pressure.
Tsunoda crashes and the red flags are out!
Yuki Tsunoda smashes into the wall at turn six. The car is – how to put this politely – fudged.
Well, Nicholas. Alex Albon has set the early pace with a 1:16.164 lap.
Here goes Hamilton. He looks like he’s fighting the rear of the car. How the Ferrari fans would love to see the Briton take flight in their colours this weekend.
Charles Leclerc is the first driver to hit the tarmac.
Qualifying 1 is underway
…but no cars are out on the track yet.
Nicholas Tilson has emailed in: Not a word for Williams?
Here’s five words: show it when it counts.
A little bit of Verstappen from the Sky broadcast. His car closed the gap to the McLarens from FP2 to FP3 and the Red Bull driver seems more content with his drive. He told Sky Italia: “We are closer [to the McLarens]. We improved the car overnight and I feel happier.”
Who do you think will take pole? Drop me an email with your thoughts.
We are about 15 minutes away from our first block of qualifying. Quick reminder, Q1 lasts 18 minutes and will see the bottom five drivers knocked out. Q2 is 15 minutes and sees another five drivers fall, then the final grid spots are decided in a 12-minute Q3.
We are firmly in Ferrari territory this weekend. The fans have been camping out all week for a glimse of Lewis Hamilton in the racing red, today the seven-time world champion gets his first competitive taste of being a Ferrari driver at Imola. Can he impress?
Here is how the drivers finished after FP3:
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is taking place against a backdrop of severe doubts over Imola’s Formula One futurewrites Andy Martin. The deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix remain etched on F1’s psyche but the demanding Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari has been the scene of some of the sport’s most-compelling races. Here are three of the best:
Giles Richards
When Hamilton announced he was to switch to Ferrari from Mercedes at the start of last season, the tifosi knew there was a full season to go before their man would don the scarlet but even at this race last year his arrival was being celebrated. The most successful driver in the sport’s history finally united with the oldest and most successful marque and the dream of finally ending the Scuderia’s drivers’ championship drought stretching back to 2007.
Giles Richards’ qualifying preview:
Preamble
Speaking after Friday’s practice, reigning drivers’ champion Max Verstappen summed up the current outlook in the paddock: “I got overtaken by the McLarens, so that says enough. They pull away.”
It is not advisable to read too much into just practice but McLaren look a class apart at the moment. Oscar Piastri has won four of the first six races and outpaced Lando Norris in both sessions on Friday, ending up 0.025 seconds quicker than his teammate. Earlier today, Norris edged ahead of the Australian, finishing a tenth of a second quicker.
Logic follows that the McLaren pair will finish atop the qualifying standings, but when it comes to who place after Piastri and Norris the picture is less clear. Earlier today Verstappen set the third fastest time on the mediums, meaning four of the top 10 set their best time on those tyres. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was third quickest yesterday, but fell back into the pack today. Is this a George Russell week for Mercedes or will the Ferraris shine in front of the fans?
Qualifying starts at 3pm UK time
