Mercedes finishes one-two … again.
IMOLA, Italy—Valtteri Bottas came into this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with an open mind, and that attitude paid off in Friday practice sessions. The Finn took both sessions–topping off a 1:15:551 best time in the afternoon–one-tenth of a second ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in third.
Bottas and Hamilton had no real threats all afternoon. Rival Red Bull driver Max Verstappen could not do any better than 13th, as the Dutchman broke a driveshaft with 49 minutes to go.
It was not much better for other drivers. With only 3:51 left in the second session, Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari into the barriers at Ravazza, bringing out a red flag. The mishap ended the chance for anyone to improve their times at the last minute.
If one red flag was enough in the afternoon, the morning session had two red flags.
First, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez were involved in yet another incident between the two. The Frenchman slowed down to let his Mexican rival by and ended up striking the Red Bull driver’s left rear wheel, which broke the Alpine’s front right wheel. It brought out the red flag while marshals recovered both of their cars back into the pits. Then, Nikita Mazepin, in his Haas, crashed into the same corner of the Ravazza as Leclerc had done earlier.
Despite both sessions being red-flagged in the final moments, Ferrari ended up with a good result. Carlos Sainz Jr. took fourth, and Leclerc (despite his accident) took fifth. Perez was sixth and seventh went to Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda in the Alpha Tauri. McLaren’s Lando Norris was eighth, while Antonio Giovinazzi and Lance Stroll finished in the last two top ten positions in their Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin entries, respectively.
There’s now an eerie feeling going into Saturday’s free practice three with the qualifying round to follow. Mercedes seems to be back on track with perhaps only Verstappen as the only major challenger.
