Lando Norris Tops Final Practice at Imola Ahead of Qualifying

Lando Norris finished the final practice session at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday at the top of the timesheets. This performance positions him strongly for a potential pole position, ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull`s Max Verstappen.

After being outpaced by Oscar Piastri in both practice sessions on Friday at Imola, Norris turned the tables in the crucial final hour before qualifying.

Norris`s fastest lap on the soft tires, a 1:14.897, was precisely one tenth of a second quicker than Piastri`s best effort. However, Piastri`s time was set on his second flying lap with Pirelli`s new softest compound, where the tire might not have been at its absolute peak performance.

Max Verstappen was third, 0.181 seconds adrift. Notably, the Dutchman achieved his best time on the slower medium compound after failing to improve on the soft tires.

Verstappen has secured pole position ahead of McLaren in the last two races and three of the previous four. Red Bull appears to have improved the handling of his RB21 car following a challenging start to Practice One.

Verstappen was not the only driver whose quickest lap came on the theoretically slower medium tires. Pirelli`s new C6 compound, the softest in their range and making its debut this weekend at Imola, proved difficult for many drivers to keep within its optimal operating window for the duration of the 3.05-mile lap.

Track conditions are slightly cooler and cloudier at Imola on Saturday. The McLarens seem to benefit in these conditions, particularly when tire preservation is a key factor.

Home driver Kimi Antonelli made a late improvement on the softs, climbing to fourth place for Mercedes. Despite this, he remained half a second behind Norris, underscoring McLaren`s strong pace after achieving one-two finishes in all practice sessions.

Charles Leclerc was the lead Ferrari driver in fifth. Lewis Hamilton, who reported braking issues on Friday, was tenth, three tenths behind Leclerc. Hamilton also had a moment, running into the gravel at the second Rivazza corner during the session.

Williams continued their promising form with Carlos Sainz taking sixth and Alex Albon ninth. Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar rebounded from his Friday crash to finish seventh, ahead of George Russell in the second Mercedes.

Analyzing the session, commentators noted there was “Lots to digest.”

They highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the best tire compound for qualifying.

It was observed that “One thing that has stayed consistent is the two McLarens are out in front. Not by a huge margin and Verstappen in third did his best lap time on the medium tyre.”

Commentators questioned whether Red Bull could extract sufficient performance from the soft tires, which seemed to be lacking compared to the medium compound.

Speculation arose that Max Verstappen might deliver a strong qualifying performance similar to his drive at Suzuka, despite potential challenges in practice.

Emilia Romagna GP Practice Three Times