Imola Grand Prix 2025: pre-qualifying

Imola’s the start of a triple header, all of which will be rough for passing.

It’s also got plenty of teams bringing updates which might shake up the order.

In FP1 the top five were covered by a tenth and the top three by just over half a tenth. Piastri was quickest ahead of Norris and Sainz. Russell was 4th and Hamilton 5th. Gasly was half a tenth down the road but a full two-tenths ahead of Verstappen. Albon and Bortoleto were both within two-hundredths of the Dutchman, with Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.

Late on in first practice Bortoleto crashed and brought red flags out.

Second practice had Piastri top, two-hundredths ahead of Norris. The McLaren pair were a quarter of a second ahead of Gasly, whose Alpine has been looking rather good so far, with Russell over a tenth behind. Verstappen was next, the Dutchman struggling to find a setup that worked. Leclerc was close behind, followed by Hadjar, Tsunoda, Albon, and Sainz. Hamilton was down in 11th, and was having difficulty with his brakes.

Second practice also had a late red flag, and while the session resumed nothing fast was being set. This was caused by Hadjar, who spun off but managed to avoid getting trapped in gravel before being forced to wait to rejoin, so he could do so in a safe manner. Ironically, this then caused his rear tyres to become beached.

At this stage it looked like a McLaren duel for pole, but it’s looked that way almost every time this year only for Verstappen or Russell or Antonelli to stop a front row lockout. Coming into the race weekend I was thinking Verstappen for pole could be good value. Tough to decide if Red Bull can turn it around as the gap looks big, and I think Piastri’s favourite to be fastest.

Third practice again had the McLarens top but this time Norris was a tenth ahead of Piastri. Verstappen was almost a tenth further back, three-tenths ahead of Antonelli. The Italian was narrowly ahead of Leclerc, Sainz, and Hadjar. Russell was 8th fastest, a quarter of a second off his team mate, followed by Albon and Hamilton.



Worth mentioning the softest tyre, the C6, makes its debut here and some drivers have seen overheating concerns. Might be good for a qualifying lap, not one for the race. Huge amount of tyre wear, managing those will be tricky, some might opt for mediums for the qualifying. It also means if you screw up a hot lap then that’s it for that set of tyres.

Verstappen is worth considering for pole. While slower than the McLarens he was a lot faster than everyone else and seems likely to make an error in qualifying based on past performances this season.

His odds on Ladbrokes (which allows for an each way bet) were only 3.5, however. This isn’t a terrible bet but I was hoping more for 4.5. While Betfair Exchange had 5.2 at the time of writing, this is only for the ‘win’ (pole) market, not each way.

 

No tip for qualifying. If Mercedes can improve or someone else step up then value might start appearing but right now it again seems like a three-way fight with the odds too short to tempt.


Morris

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