Perfect start for Piastri

Having won the last three races, Australia’s Oscar Piastri has started the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix perfectly by topping opening practice.

In beautiful conditions at the picturesque Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at Imola, Piastri’s 1:16.545 was just enough to put the #81 in P1 yet again.

It was a McLaren one-two with Lando Norris a close second, just 0.032s adrift.

A competitive weekend could be on the cards with Carlos Sainz (Williams) George Russell (Mercedes) and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) ensuring the entire top five were covered by just 0.096s, while Max Verstappen could only manage seventh.

Almost the entire one-hour session ran untroubled until Gabriel Bortoleto brought it to an early end after crashing at the final Rivazza after impressively setting the ninth fastest time.

There were seven teams in the top 10 as Franco Colapinto finished his first session in the Alpine in 17^th.

To the thrill of the crowd, Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli started his first home race by spending the opening minutes at the top of the timesheets.

But he was not there for long as times started to tumble on the softs.

Alonso initially led the charge despite having a close call with Sainz at Variante Alta.

It was not until the 11 minute mark things reached top gear as Norris and Russell were the first drivers to soar into the 1m17s window.

Bortoleto briefly pushed the Sauber as high as second before Russell pushed the session into a new barrier.

The Brit bolted on another new set of Softs and fired the first 1m16s lap.

His 1:16.599 was a comfortable half a second clear of Norris’ lap.

A number of drivers started to fire in personal best times with Gasly, Antonelli, Sainz and Albon all inserting themselves into the top five.

Verstappen took the entire first half of the session to make an impact on the leaderboard, shooting to second briefly before being displaced by Sainz almost instantly.

The Variante Alta continued to be a hot spot for Ferrari with Hamilton taking a short cut through the grass on the infield after Leclerc dropped a wheel in the gravel on corner exit.

Piastri spent the first half of the session down in 12^th, but fired his first blow at the 33-minute mark.

On a new set of Softs the Aussie went straight to the top, lowering the benchmark by 0.054s to a 1:16.545.

Eight minutes later it was Norris’ turn and he came within 0.032s, while Russell and Hamilton were also within a tenth.

Few could challenge the top end of town on used rubber as longer stints took place during the run home.

It was not until the final two minutes until the reds arrived with Bortoleto finding the wall at the second Rivazza.

The Brazilian took too much kerb and lost grip on corner exit and went head on into the tyres and brought an early end to the session.

Pierre Gasly was also speedy for Alpine, getting up to sixth just 0.151s away, well clear of Verstappen, who did not feel at home in the Red Bull.

Seven teams were in the top 10 as Antonelli slipped to 13^th as he battled with bouncing issues.

FP2 follows at 0.40 AEST.

Image: Getty

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix FP1 results

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