Imola Grand Prix

ANT will be hoping to improve on 6th in Miami as this is his home Grand Prix and he even brought his classmates and teachers along to see him at work. It’s also HAM’s first time in a Ferrari in front of the Tifosi, which will add to the pressure.

Meanwhile there’s been a couple of changes at Alpine

• Team principal Oliver Oakes has left the team after less than a year in the role; Alpine said Flavio Briatore will stand in… but wait, you say, didn’t Briatore receive a lifetime ban for “crashgate” (when Renault arranged for Nelson Piquet to deliberately crash to let ALO win the 2008 Singapore GP)? No, a French court overturned the decision
• Franco Colapinto has somewhat controversially replaced DOO – he’ll run number 43. In addition to the usual toxicity of social media, the Argentine’s rabid fanbase has made death threats against the Aussie. BBC euphemistically report “Colapinto’s graduation [to F1] has been eased by money from Latin American sponsors.” They also report that “There will then be a “new evaluation before the British Grand Prix”, which is on 4-6 July.”
  In other news, Carlos Sainz Sr is considering running for president of the FIA; I hope he does otherwise we might get another stint with Mohammed Ben Sulayem (MBS) which would be a terrible result for motorsport.

Qualifying

Air temperature 22°C; track 41°C; humidity 30%

Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
BOR 1:16.698
ALO 1:16.238
ALB 1:16.164
Yellow flag – TSU is in the wall at Turn 6
Red flag – Q1 stopped with 12:13 remaining
TSU’s out and walking away from the destroyed Red Bull (Where are the marshals?)
Replay shows he took a bit too much kerb, lost the tail, across the gravel, into the tyre wall, flipped it over on its roof and back the right way up
The medical car has picked up TSU and will take him to the medical centre
COL has been released from the garage but the restart time is not yet confirmed; that’ll be a one place grid penalty if the stewards are consistent with what they gave RUS a few races ago
SAI 1:15.987
GAS 1:15.937
ALO 1:15.695
VER 1:15.175
3mins left; bottom 5 are HUL, BOR, BEA, OCO, TSU
Unsafe release by Sauber, sending HUL into the path of ANT … but somehow the stewards say no further action
BOR P15
LAW P16
Yellow flag – COL is in the gravel
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are LAW, HUL, OCO, BEA, TSU
BEA P10, BOR P16
Red flag – will BEA’s lap time stand?
Replay shows COL touched the grass and hit the tyre wall nose first
Back of the grid: LAW, HUL, OCO, BEA, TSU – so no, they deleted BEA’s lap time because the red flags were out just before he crossed the finish line

Qualifying session 2
Q2 start delayed while COL’s Alpine is removed and the barriers repaired
Lap time of car 87 (BEA) under review; he’s still sitting in the Haas, hoping to get through to Q2 (which would mean BOR doesn’t)
Race control have announced the time for Q2 to start; does that mean they’ve decided on whether BEA or BOR are going through to Q2?
A close-up of STR seems to show a stone chip on the Aston Martin’s chassis, quite close to his head
The replay of BEA on the main straight; to me it looks like he passed the chequered flag before the red flag (light panel comes on) – it’s confusing because at many circuits the start line (front of the grid) is after the finish line
BOR is first out of the garage, heading to the end of the pit lane
Green light
BOR 1:16.683
VER 1:15.400
NOR 1:15.261
PIA 1:15.241
ALB slides the Williams through the chicane
3mins left; bottom 5 are STR, GAS, ALB, BOR, COL
BOR P12
SAI 1:15.198
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are STR, BOR, GAS, ALB, COL
ALB P7, ALO P11
BOR P13
GAS P6, ANT P11
STR P6, HAM P11
ALO P6, LEC P11
Middle of the grid: LEC, HAM, ANT, BOR, COL – that’s both Ferraris and the local boy failing to reach Q1

Top 10 shootout is between SAI, PIA, NOR, RUS, VER, ALO, STR, GAS, HAD, ALB

Qualifying session 3
STR 1:15.767
ALO P2
HAD 1:15.746
NOR 1:14.962
PIA 1:14.821
VER 1:14.772
RUS P4
GAS P8
ALB P8
SAI P8
Order after the first run: VER, PIA, NOR, RUS, HAD, STR, ALO, SAI, ALB, GAS
PIA 1:14.670
Chequered flag
ALB P5
NOR P3
HAD P7
VER P2
ALO P5
GAS P9
SAI P6
RUS P3
Front of the grid: PIA, VER, RUS, NOR, ALO, SAI, ALB, STR, HAD, GAS

Provisional grid: PIA, VER, RUS, NOR, ALO, SAI, ALB, STR, HAD, GAS, LEC, HAM, ANT, BOR, COL*, LAW, HUL, OCO, BEA, TSU
Penalties
COL, Entering fast lane in the pit lane before a re-start time was confirmed: Drop of 1 grid position for the next Race in which the driver participates.
TSU is permitted to race despite not setting a lap time in Quali

Race

Grid: PIA, VER, RUS, NOR, ALO, SAI, ALB, STR, HAD, GAS, LEC, HAM, ANT, BOR, LAW, COL, HUL, OCO, BEA, TSU* (*TSU will start from the pit lane)
Looks like ALB’s Williams has a leak; mechanics are busy trying to find the cause
Pit lane is open; drivers can make their way to the grid
Williams appear to have fixed ALB’s car; they’re sending him out on a reconnaissance lap
Air temperature 24°C; track 45°C; humidity 39%

PIA leads everyone away on the formation lap
Everyone starting on the medium compound tyres except HAM, ANT, HUL, BEA and TSU on hards
PIA takes his pole spot; it’ll be a long wait for the rest of the grid to form up

01/63: PIA leads through turn 1 but then VER squeezes past to take P1
GAS and LEC have passed HAD for P10 and P11 respectively

02: VER, PIA, RUS, NOR, ALO, SAI, ALB, STR, GAS, LEC
OCO pits; hard tyres go on; rejoins P20

03: HAM looking for a way round ANT
GAS tries to go around the outside of LEC but runs wide into the gravel; keeps his foot in and rejoins P14

04: VER 1.5sec clear of PIA

05/63: VER, PIA, RUS, NOR, ALO, SAI, ALB, STR, LEC, HAD, ANT, HAM, BOR, GAS, LAW, HUL, COL, BEA, TSU, OCO

06: Replay of the start shows PIA left the door wide open for VER to come through, and RUS was on the radio despairing at PIA

07: Radio from HAM reporting his tyres are better than expected

08: COL dips a wheel in the gravel but hangs on to P17

09: NOR is filling RUS’ mirrors but there’s no way around the Mercedes at the moment
Radio from RUS, “I’m not sure how I’m going to make it to the target lap pushing like this”

10/63: VER, PIA, RUS, NOR, ALO, SAI, ALB, STR, LEC, HAD
GAS pits; hards; rejoins P20
NOR puts a wheel on the grass as he tries to find a way past RUS; that lets ALO and SAI close up on them

11: LEC pits, as does LAW
NOR looks at the outside but RUS defends
NOR makes another move and this time takes P3

12: RUS pits, followed by SAI; hards for both; they rejoin P15 and P16 respectively
Radio from PIA, “I think plan A is very ambitious”

13: ALO pits; hards; P15 – flames from both front brakes as he exits the pits

14: PIA pits from P2; front right was a bit slow; hards; P12

15/63: VER, NOR, ALB, HAD, ANT, HAM, HUL, COL, BEA, TSU
STR pits; slow stop; hards; P17

17: Radio for TSU telling him the car closing on him is PIA; “do everything you can to hold him up”

18: PIA has DRS to close and get alongside TSU; TSU moves to squeeze PIA towards the grass, but PIA takes P10

19: PIA takes P9 from BEA

20/63: VER, NOR, ALB, HAD, ANT, HAM, HUL, COL, PIA, BEA, TSU, LEC, RUS, SAI, ALO, STR, GAS, LAW, BOR, OCO
PIA easily past COL for P8
LEC now sitting on TSU’s rear wing

21: LEC around the outside of TSU for P11

22: Radio from HAM, “We definitely want to undercut these guys” but he’s told there’s no gap right now

23: Concerned radio from RUS suggesting a problem with the rear trackrod; they’re looking at the data
LEC blasts past BEA for P9
PIA’s taken P7 from HUL

25/63: VER, NOR, ALB, HAD, ANT, HAM, PIA, HUL, LEC, BEA, TSU, RUS, SAI, ALO, STR, GAS, LAW, BOR, OCO, COL
Top 6 are yet to stop, although that’s expected for those on hard tyres

26: RUS took P11 from TSU
PIA around HAM for P6

27: PIA makes an identical move on ANT for P5
PIA now has DRS behind HAD but that’s Red Bull’s junior team so HAD will be told to make it hard for PIA

28: HAD defends the outside line so PIA goes inside to take P4

29: NOR pits from P2; hards go on; nice clean stop; rejoins P7
Yellow flag – OCO has stopped on the grass
VSC deployed

30[VSC]: VER pits from P1 for a cheap stop; hards; P1
The only front runners not to pit are PIA and NOR

31[VSC]: PIA pits from P2; more hards; P4
VSC ending
Replay shows RUS locking up at the pit speed limit line as he nearly rear-ends someone

32: VER, NOR, ALB, PIA, HAD, ANT, HAM, ALO, STR, LEC, HUL, RUS, BEA, TSU, SAI, COL, GAS, LAW, BOR; out: OCO
BEA pits; hards; P19

33: SAI takes P13 from TSU but the Red Bull driver taps the Williams – collision noted by race control

34: HAM finally gets past ANT for P6

35/63: VER, NOR, ALB, PIA, HAD, HAM, ANT, LEC, ALO, STR
No further investigation for TSU/SAI incident
RUS squeezes past STR for P10

36: HAM sets the fastest lap – he’s on medium tyres (so are ANT, HUL and TSU)
HAM around the outside of HAD for P5

37: RUS takes P9 from ALO
LEC harrying ANT for P7

38: LEC lines up ANT again and this time makes the move stick

39: PIA has DRS to help close on ALB
HUL around the outside of ALO for P10
ALB has been noted for yellow flag infringement – no further investigation

40/63: VER, NOR, ALB, PIA, HAM, HAD, LEC, ANT, RUS, HUL
PIA easily past ALB for P3

41: LEC has DRS to help him pass HAD for P6

42: TSU takes P12 from ALO
Radio from ALO, “It’s a wreck” – he’s not enjoying this iteration of the Aston Martin

43: Radio for COL telling him to swap positions with GAS

44: GAS takes P15 from teammate COL and says thank you to the team

45/63: VER, NOR, PIA, ALB, HAM, LEC, HAD, ANT, RUS, SAI, HUL, TSU, ALO, STR, GAS, COL, LAW, BOR, BEA; out: OCO
VER has an 18sec lead over NOR

46: ANT pulls off onto the grass – yellow flags
SC deployed (not VSC this time)
Pit crews getting ready

47[SC]: VER pits, followed by NOR; hards for both; VER still P1; NOR exits barely ahead of ALB
Radio from LEC wanting to pit but he’s told they don’t have tyres that will go to the end
HAM and HAD pit too, as do most of the midfield

48[SC]: VER, PIA, NOR, ALB, LEC, RUS, HAM, SAI, HAD, HUL, TSU, GAS, LAW, ALO, STR, COL, BOR, BEA; out: ANT, OCO
ALB pits; rejoins P5
Replay looks like ALB was ahead of NOR at the safety car line, but ALB has now pitted so will that be a penalty for NOR?

49[SC]: Most of the field has closed up but the marshals are still clearing ANT’s car, but there’s a lapped car (BEA) between VER and PIA so they should tell him to pass the SC before the restart

50[SC]: VER, PIA, NOR, LEC, ALB, RUS, HAM, SAI, HAD, HUL, TSU, GAS, LAW, ALO, STR, COL, BOR, BEA
Radio from NOR commenting that PIA’s tyres look dead (NOR’s are new)
Should McLaren have pitted PIA too?

52[SC]: BEA is told to pass the SC

53[SC]: BEA has almost caught up to BOR
SC in at the end of this lap
Remember PIA, LEC and RUS are on old tyres

54: LEC has a brief look inside NOR but backs out
TSU lines up HUL and takes P10

55/63: DRS enabled
VER has already opened a 2.5sec lead over PIA

56: NOR has DRS to help attack his teammate
HAM has DRS behind RUS

57: HAM around the outside of RUS to take P6

58: VER continues to disappear as the McLaren pair fight over P2
NOR makes a clean move to go around the outside of PIA
ALB has DRS behind LEC

59: LEC defends P4 from ALB

60/63: VER, NOR, PIA, LEC, ALB, HAM, RUS, SAI, HAD, TSU
ALB makes a move but LEC closes the door; ALB runs across the gravel; HAM takes P5
Radio from ALB claiming it was unfair

61: HAM takes P4 from teammate LEC
ALB closing up on LEC again

62: LEC defends and ALB can’t find a way round the Ferrari
SAI has DRS behind RUS, but HAD has DRS behind SAI

63/63: Radio for LEC telling him to give the place back to ALB
ALB takes P5
LEC on the radio complaining “So that’s what racing is now?”

VER takes the chequered flag
Provisional result: VER, NOR, PIA, HAM, ALB, LEC*, RUS, SAI, HAD, TSU; ALO, HUL, GAS, LAW, STR, COL, BEA, BOR
(*LEC is under investigation for the pass on ALB, but he gave the position back so will be get a penalty?)
DNF: ANT, OCO

No further action for the LEC/ALB incident
Ugh, MBS is there to make sure he’s seen with the winner; sooner he’s gone, the better.

[2025 calendar and driver line-up]