Emilia-Romagna GP: Lewis Hamilton tops only practice session at Imola

Lewis Hamilton started F1’s condensed Emilia-Romagna GP weekend fastest by setting the pace from Max Verstappen in the weekend’s only practice session ahead of qualifying later on Saturday.

F1’s return to historic Imola in northern Italy after a 14-year absence is being run over just two days and drivers had just 90 minutes of practice running to get up to speed and hone their cars’ set-ups for the remainder of the weekend on Saturday morning.

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Qualifying begins at 1pm, with build-up on Sky Sports F1 from midday. Sunday’s race is at 12.10pm.

Hamilton, who last drove the circuit in 2006 in GP2, took time to work his way up the timesheet but ended up with a session-topping fastest time on the soft tyres of 1:14.726.

But Max Verstappen split the Mercedes to finish just 0.297s back on the world champion. The Red Bull driver also set his best lap earlier in the session, when the track was not as rubbered in.

Valtteri Bottas, who ran wide through the gravel at the second Rivazza, was third, nearly half a second back on Hamilton in the sister Mercedes.

Pierre Gasly impressed again with fourth for AlphaTauri ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the two Renaults.

More to follow…

(c) Sky Sports 2020: Emilia-Romagna GP: Lewis Hamilton tops only practice session at Imola