Charles Leclerc leads the pack during the first 2 practices on Friday at Imola, the track bearing his manufacturer’s name.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the pace during Friday’s first two practices sessions for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. The track, officially named Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, bears the names of the Ferrari founder and his oldest son. A third practice precedes qualifying on Saturday. Formula 1 racing returned to Imola in 2020 after a 14-year break but 2024 marks the track’s return to the calendar after last year’s race was scrubbed after heavy flooding in the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the last two races staged at Imola in 2021 and 2022.
How to Watch Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Practice 3, in Formula 1 Today:
Date: May 18, 2024
Time: 6:25 a.m. ET
TV: ESPN2
Live stream Practice 3 for the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Fubo: Start your free trial today!
Verstappen’s victory in 2022 made him the seventh driver with multiple wins on the venerable 3.05-mile, counter-clockwise course. Michael Schumaker won there seven times between 1994-2006, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost each took three victories, and Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Nelson Piquet topped the podium twice.
Leclerc ran the fastest lap of the day during FP2, turning in a 1:15.906 performance. That was 0.192 seconds quicker than McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. RB Honda’s Yuki Tsunoda emerged with the third-best time of the session, followed by the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, Verstappen finished seventh behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen. the three-time defending Formula 1 world champion, arrived in Italy with a 33-point lead in the driver standings over teammate Sergio Pérez. Leclerc stands in third, 38 points back, followed by a fourth-place tie between Lando Norris of McLaren — the winner two weeks ago in Miami — and Sainz.
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