Leclerc shines at Imola as Verstappen says ‘bad day’

LONDON:

Charles Leclerc basked in the sun while Max Verstappen slipped and whined as the Ferrari driver dominated Friday practice for this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Leclerc made the most of a heavily revised package, while championship leader and three-time world champion Verstappen fought for his usual Red Bull appearance at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

“It was a difficult day,” Verstappen said. “We struggled for grip and balance and I never felt comfortable in the car. He moved a lot. We have many things to see and improve.

“It’s a matter of performance and we have to improve for tomorrow if we want to be competitive. It seems everyone else has taken a step forward and now it’s up to us to catch up. It was a bad day.”

Leclerc set a best lap of one minute 15.906 seconds to shave 0.192 off nearest rival Oscar Piastri of McLaren with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda grabbing third in a tightly packed group at the front of the field.

It also marked a successful first day for Leclerc’s partnership with new race engineer Bryan Bozzi after the scarlet scuderia opted to make mid-season changes to its line-up.

“For sure, everything went quite smoothly today and the upgrades worked well, which is a good step for us, so it was a good day,” said Leclerc.

“But tomorrow the forecast is for a big change in wind and track conditions with some bad weather for Sunday.

“Feet on the Ground”

“So we have to keep our feet on the ground and work carefully because qualifying here is extremely important as it’s not an easy track to overtake.”

Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth ahead of team-mate George Russell and Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, leaving a fuming Verstappen back in seventh ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez.

Nico Hulkenberg was ninth for Haas and two-time champion Fernando Alonso 10th for Aston Martin on a day where most drivers struggled with wind conditions.

“It was a good start to the weekend for us,” said an upbeat Hamilton.

“It’s clear the car feels a lot better and I’m grateful to the factory for the upgrades.”

Verstappen slid and went around the gravel traps three times in total, while Hamilton and Sainz were also seen spinning and making unplanned excursions.

The latter two drivers are both set to leave their respective teams at the end of the year with Hamilton moving to Ferrari to replace the Spaniard and hoping to impress the Italian crowd this weekend.

Their teams have also confirmed more staff transfers with another senior Mercedes man, chief aerodynamicist Gioacchino Vino set to join Ferrari after a ‘gardening leave’, along with performance director Loic Serra and head of driver development Jerome D’Ambrosio whose moves were announced earlier this week. .

In response, Mercedes signed two Ferrari employees Simone Resta and Enrico Sampo — Resta as head of strategic development and Sampo as head of performance software.

Technical director James Allison said Mercedes was recruiting “experienced and good” people at a similar rate to their departures.

“So I guess it’s our job to try to make sure that we act in such a way that people would rather be with us than anywhere else,” he added.

Amidst the flurry of upcoming driver moves and technical boss Adrian Newey’s decision to leave Red Bull, it looked like there might be a shift in momentum – but the champion team has proven they can bounce back on Saturdays plenty of times before .