F1 Imola GP: McLaren Dominates with 1-2 in Intense FP2 Red Flag

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris set the pace for McLaren during the second free practice session at the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola. Piastri posted the fastest time, just 0.025 seconds quicker than his teammate.

Their strong performance on Friday followed Piastri also leading the earlier FP1, pointing to McLaren’s strong start to the 2025 season. The session was shortened after Isack Hadjar spun into the gravel with eight minutes left, bringing out a red flag.

The cars returned for two quick minutes at the end to complete a handful of practice starts. George Russell gave Mercedes an early boost, clocking a 1:15.693 lap on the C6 soft Pirelli tire, which broke last year’s pole mark.

Piastri quickly went faster with a 1:15.293, comfortable enough to stay ahead even after Norris went purple in the middle sector but could not beat his own best time. Both McLarens opened a gap to the rest, as Pierre Gasly surprised by taking third spot for Alpine, just 0.276 seconds behind.

Gasly built on Alpine’s solid FP1 work by going quicker than Russell and world champion Max Verstappen, who finished fifth for Red Bull after dealing with earlier set-up problems. Charles Leclerc placed sixth for Ferrari, but he struggled with the car’s behavior in several tricky corners.

Leclerc and his new teammate, Lewis Hamilton, both commented on difficulties with the brakes, especially at the Variante Alta section. Hamilton ended up 11th and slid off track again after similar trouble in the first session.

Williams drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon appeared in the top ten, rounding out ninth and tenth, while Yuki Tsunoda took eighth for Red Bull Racing, only a tenth behind his rookie teammate Hadjar. The big incident of FP2 happened when Hadjar, driving for Racing Bulls, got loose on the exit of Turn 1’s Tamburello and spun off, landing his car in the gravel.

This brought out the session’s only red flag and left Hadjar unable to return to the track. Once the marshals cleared his car, the green flag was waved and cars took to the track for a final short run.

Franco Colapinto made his return to F1 with Alpine, ending the day 13th after a steady performance, while Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli finished 18th. Several teams used this session to gather more data as they brought new updates to Imola.

Among the top runners, Verstappen was around four-tenths slower than the McLaren pair, a gap that put extra focus on Red Bull’s overnight changes. Williams and Alpine both showed improvement, and Gasly’s third place gave his team more reasons for optimism going into Saturday.

With McLaren leading the way on Friday, attention will turn to the final practice and qualifying sessions. McLaren’s consistency suggests they are favorites for pole, but teams like Mercedes and Alpine may challenge if they can find extra speed overnight.

The stage is set for an exciting weekend at Imola as fans and teams prepare for qualifying and race day.

Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller reports on Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends with race-day analysis, team-radio highlights, and point-standings updates. He explains power-unit upgrades, aerodynamic developments, and driver rivalries in straightforward, SEO-friendly language for a global F1 audience.