Just 0.058s covered both Mercedes’ and Max Verstappen in a disrupted Practice 1 at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The opening one-hour session was dominated by spins and an apparent collision between Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon approaching the Villeneuve chicane, which caused the first of two red flags with 15 minutes to go.
Bahrain’s perennial spinner Nikita Mazepin had two more in the first hour alone at Imola, both on the exit of the final corner, Rivazza 2.
His second came in the final moments of FP1 and saw the Haas driver make gentle contact with the wall, ending the session under red flag conditions.
An early spin for Nikita Mazepin in his first European FP1
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton goes quickest just over ten minutes into the session ⏱️#ImolaGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/zWGcRZ20O8
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 16, 2021
Beforehand, the expected top three all produced their best times of the morning, with Valtteri Bottas quickest on a 1m15.564s.
Lewis Hamilton was 0.041s behind in second, and Verstappen a further 0.017s back in third for Red Bull.
Formula 1’s two Italian teams battled just behind as Charles Leclerc was fourth and Carlos Sainz sixth for Ferrari, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly fifth with the same lap time as the Spaniard.
Fernando Alonso was half a second back from the trio in seventh for Alpine, just ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin in eighth.
Nicholas Latifi proved how disrupted the session was with incidents and traffic in ninth for Williams, as Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10 for McLaren.
George Russell was 11th in the second Williams ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in 12th and Lando Norris 13th.
Sebastian Vettel was half a second behind Aston Martin teammate Stroll in 14th, with Perez and Ocon 16th and 17th after their coming together.
RED FLAG ?
The session is halted as Sergio Perez has a problem with his rear left wheel – and Esteban Ocon suffers collateral damage ?
Both are out of their cars and their FP1 is over #ImolaGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/aZKrVqdAGm
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 16, 2021
Despite his spins, Mazepin led Mick Schumacher by seven-tenths in 18th and 19th, as Yuki Tsunoda suffered an early spin and rounded out the field in 20th.
While the midfield pack was far from settled, it’s the same story at the front with BOT-HAM-VER.
Compared to Bahrain, drivers are certainly needing some time to get comfortable on the famous Imola layout, with almost every driver seen missing a corner at some stage.
Hopefully, Practice 2 will offer a better indication of how the pecking order is shaping up.