Oscar Piastri topped both Friday practice sessions at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, underlining McLaren’s strong 2025 form. He narrowly led team-mate Lando Norris by 0.025s in FP2, with the duo well ahead of the rest.

Norris initially set the pace on mediums before Carlos Sainz, also on mediums, briefly went quicker. In the soft-tyre runs, George Russell was first to beat last year’s pole time before Piastri clocked a 1m15.293s. Norris couldn’t improve, despite a fast second sector. “

A decent day”, commented Piastri. “I think there are a few bits to tidy up overnight, but that’s usual. It’s close at the front, so we’ve got a bit more to find. I’m looking forward to Qualifying.”

“It’s a difficult track but a fun and fast one to drive, so overall a nice Friday”, echoed Norris. “We’ve identified a few things to work on overnight as a team in preparation for getting back out on track tomorrow – I’m looking forward to it.”

Pierre Gasly impressed with third for Alpine, ahead of Russell. Max Verstappen had a better showing than in FP1 but still trailed McLaren by four tenths. Charles Leclerc was sixth, while Isack Hadjar was seventh for Racing Bulls despite spinning into the gravel late in the session, causing a red flag.  “The target for Quali? Second row would be a good result”, said Leclerc, “although at the moment thrid row is more feasible”.

Yuki Tsunoda was eighth, followed by Sainz and Alex Albon. Lewis Hamilton struggled with braking issues and finished 11th. Franco Colapinto placed 13th on his F1 return with Alpine.