2021 Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: Race preview drive.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from drive.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Has Mercedes regained the advantage already? And could Ferrari spring a surprise?
31dLaurence Edmondson
37dLaurence Edmondson and Nate Saunders
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Verstappen stops at pit exit after losing power (0:29)
Max Verstappen s Red Bull cuts out causing him to stop at the pit lane exit in FP2. (0:29)
After Mercedes defied the odds to beat a faster Red Bull to a narrow victory at the first in Bahrain, the world champions finished the first day of practice at Imola looking like the favourites.
But was it a case of returning to business as usual or will Red Bull hit back in qualifying?
A drivershaft failure prevented Max Verstappen from setting a competitive lap time during the second practice session at Imola on Friday afternoon, paving the way for Mercedes to finish the opening day of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in first and second.
16 April, 2021
Ferrari will be happy with the first day of the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in their back yard, the Reds ending the day fourth and fifth on the timing screens with Carlos Sainz a tad quicker than Charles Leclerc who crashed during FP2.
Arguably, the Scuderia may be flattered by the result as neither Red Bull figured in the top five, while the similarly Honda-powered AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly was quicker than. Also McLaren were strangely AWOL on Friday.
The team reported from Imola that Leclerc did a 1:15.367, which would have been the fastest time overall but the time was disallowed as he had exceeded track limits by just a few centimetres at the Piratella corner.
Hamilton: We haven t seen the best from the Red Bulls yet grandprix247.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from grandprix247.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.