Charles Leclerc started on pole for the third time at the Monaco Grand Prix. He manages to stay ahead of Oscar into turn one. Sainz tries to overtake Piastri but receives a puncture in his front left in the process and locks up running off at Casino Square.

Perez, Hulkenberg and Magnussen had a huge crash on the run up the hill during the first lap, but all three drivers exited their cars safely. All of Sergio's car left was the monocoque and all three drivers were out of the race.

Sainz manages to return to the pits and becomes the luckiest man in the race with the red flag saving him.

The two Alpines also collided at Portier, with Ocon going down the inside of Gasly. The left rear met the right front, and Ocon was launched into the air. Ocon picked up damage but managed to get back into the pits. The mechanics tried to work on his car during the red flag, but the damage was too significant and his race was over.

​During the red flag, all of the drivers changed tyres, with Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz and Piastri changing from medium tyres to hards and Russell, Verstappen and Hamilton changing from hards to mediums. Behind Tsunoda and Albon also changed from medium to hard.​

The race restarted at 15:44 (local time) with a standing start in original order - Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz, Norris, Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Albon, Gasly, Riccardo, Stroll, Alonso, Sargent, Bottas and then Guanyu. The race restarted on lap 3 of 78.

Charles Leclerc started quicker than Oscar Piastri at the race restart, with Sainz staying behind Oscar. Oscar picked up some slight floor damage during the incident with Sainz on lap one but continued to hold position in the race. McLaren replaced the side pod and fixed the floor as much as they could, but they lacked some downforce.​

Alonso and Stroll both overtook Riccardo on the restart, with Riccardo moving down to 13th place. Bottas also overtook Sargent on the restart.

Ocon received a 10-second penalty for his collision with Gasly, which took him out of the race. This will be converted into a five-place grid drop for Canada.

During the restart, Norris and Russell were side by side, but Russell gave Norris space and was told to manage his tyres, with Mercedes wanting him to take his medium tyres to the end. Teams were on different strategies, some thinking they could make it a 0-stop race. Hamilton previously expressed his anger with starting on hard tyres and then having to change to medium tyres during the red flag, hoping they would go to the end.
​
Russell dropped back eight seconds from Norris, trying to preserve his medium tyres to the end, allowing Leclerc to coast at the front with Russell giving him a potential pit stop gap. But Leclerc was under pressure from Piastri with under a one sec gap, with Lando managing his tyres behind, creating a gap from the top three.
​
Bottas was the first to pit, changing from medium tyres to hard tyres on lap 16. On his new hard tyres, he was four seconds quicker than the lap leaders, gaining the fastest lap of the race so far.

​The Williams of Logan Sargent was the only driver to change to another set of the same starting tyre, changing from a hard tyre to another hard tyre during the red flag, meaning he would have to make a stop or gamble for another safety car.

On lap 22, Norris created a pit stop gap on Russell with an 11/12 second gap, with everyone managing their tyres and trying to get to the end.

Leclerc starts going quicker, pulling away from Piastri on lap 23, gaining over a second lead. Alonso, Riccardo, and Sargent have a short battle for grid places 12, 13, and 14 during lap 28. Stroll starts battling with his medium tyre degradation from lap 30, with Alonso backing up to make a gap between him and Stroll from lap 34, allowing Stroll to potentially pit.
​
Sainz only had one set of new soft tyres to change to, as his medium tyres were damaged in the first race start. From lap 37, it was a waiting game to see who would pit first out of the top four drivers. Norris had a 17-second gap between him and Russell on lap 38, but not quite enough for a free pit stop.

Leclerc was told to slow down at the front on lap 38 to try and stop the McLaren from pitting into the gap he created from Russell. Both of the McLaren and Ferraris were lapping in the 1:18s during lap 42, while overtaking the back markers, Zhou and Bottas.

Stroll was the second car to pit in the race on lap 43. After Alonso held up the rest of the pack, he pitted onto a fresh set of hard tyres and came back out into P11.

Stroll's new tyres didn't last long after he got a puncture in his left rear during lap 50 and lost the tyre in the pit lane, a little earlier and it would have been a completely different outcome and possible VSC. He is forced to change onto a soft tyre, this gave the rest of the teams vital information on the soft tyres.

Hamilton pits and goes back onto the hards he started the race with and Verstappen covers it with a pit stop of his own back onto his original hard tyres on laps 52 and 53. They both come back out into 7th (Verstappen) and 8th (Hamilton). Hamilton and Verstappen both take a fastest lap each on their new tyres on lap 54 and 55. Russell was then under pressure from both Verstappen and Hamilton who then had a big tyre offset. Hamilton putting in laps in the low 1:14s setting a fastest lap on lap 56, around four seconds quicker than the race leaders.

Bottas overtook Sargent on lap 54 moving into 13th place. Stroll also overtook Zhou in the tunnel with his fresher soft tyres, then puts pressure on Sargent with another overtake moving Stroll into 14th on lap 59, with Sargent in 15th and Zhou in 16th. Sargent is the latest car to pit on lap 59 with a 2.6sec stop onto medium tyres.

Verstappen gained rapidly on Russell making up an over a ten second gap in just eight laps, gaining over two seconds a lap. By the end of lap 62 Verstappen was pushing Russell down the track with better traction. Hamilton continued to set fastest laps trying to gain on Verstappen from seven seconds to three seconds on lap 65.

Norris was within DRS of Sainz during lap 66 gaining and waiting for Sainz to make a mistake. By lap 66 both Mercedes and RB's are told they had saved their tyres enough and could push to the end.

Sargent and Zhou both brush the wall but continue in the race on lap 68 while Verstappen is told to cool his breaks still behind Russell in 6th place. Sargent takes advantage of in front passing and overtakes Zhou on lap 70 for 15th place, both are still two laps behind Leclerc the race leader.

​Leclerc pulled five seconds clear of Piastri on lap 71, with Ferrari using Sainz to keep Norris within a pit stop of Russell and Verstappen behind them. Sainz put pressure on Piastri on lap 72 closing the gap to 0.5 seconds.

In the last four laps Leclerc gained nine seconds over Piastri, who is under pressure from Sainz 0.7 seconds behind and Norris 0.6 seconds behind him in 3rd and 4th place.

​Charles Leclerc had a nine second lead into the final lap to win the Monaco Grand Prix, with Piastri managing to just about hold off Sainz and Norris to finish 2nd with Sainz finishing 3rd and Norris 4th followed by Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Albon and Gasly finishing tenth with his first point of the season.

1) Charles Leclerc    1:18.636
2) Oscar Piastri          + 7.152
3) Carlos Sainz          + 7.585
4) Lando Norris          + 8.650
5) George Russell      + 13.309
6) Max Verstappen     + 13.853
7) Lewis Hamilton       + 14.908
8) Yuki Tsunoda          + 1 Lap
9) Alex Albon              + 1 Lap
10) Pierre Gasly         + 1 Lap
11) Fernando Alonso  + 1 Lap
12) Daniel Riccardo   + 2 Laps
13) Valtteri Bottas      + 2 Laps
14) Lance Stroll         + 2 Laps
15) Logan Sargent    + 2 Laps
16) Zhou Guanyu      + 2 Laps
DNF Estaban Ocon
DNF Sergio Perez
DNF Nico Hulkenberg
DNF Kevin Magnussen 

Charles Leclerc finally earned his first podium at his home race in Monaco, he said after the race: "No words can explain. It’s such a difficult race, I think the fact that twice I’ve started on pole position and we couldn’t quite make it makes it even better in a way, it means a lot obviously.

​“It is a race that made me dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver one day. It was a difficult race emotional because already 15 laps to the end you are just hoping nothing happens, already the emotions were coming.

"I was thinking of my dad a lot more than I thought while driving, obviously he’s given everything for me to be here.
​
“It was a dream of ours and for me to race here and to win and so it's unbelievable."

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer @ F1 Journal

Charles Leclerc takes his 24th career pole and Ferrari's 250th Formula One pole position in his home race at the Monaco Grand Prix.​

Charles is joined by Oscar Piastri in P2 and Carlos Sainz in P3, in a qualifying which includes the shocking early exit of Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso in Q1 and the unexpected addition of Alpine and Williams in Q3 for the first time this season. Both Pierre and Alex will start in the top ten on Sunday for the first time this season.

Max Verstappen's chance of a 9th consecutive pole position was dashed when he hit the wall at the end of Q3 and ended up with a 6th place start for the race tomorrow.

Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes could only manage a P7 start after finishing in the top three in all free practice sessions this weekend, with his team mate George Russell starting in P5.

After Qualifying, the Stewards investigated two incidents of impeding with Sainz on Albon and they took no further action and no further action against Hulkenberg and Ocon.

Both Haas drivers failed a technical check and were disqualified from Qualifying. Both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg will start from the pit lane for Sunday's race, promoting all the other drivers behind them up one or two places.

Top 10 Results
1) Charles Leclerc    1:11.369
2) Max Verstappen   1:11.566
3) Lewis Hamilton     1:11.710
4) Oscar Piastri         1:11.901
5) Sergio Perez.        1:11.923
6) George Russell     1:11.968
7) Carlos Sainz         1:11.979
8) Lando Norris         1:11.988
9) Yuki Tsunoda         1:11.991
​10) Fernando Alonso 1:12.087

The final Free Practice of the weekend was once again dominated by Charles Leclerc, who topped the timesheet ahead of Max Verstappen by 0.197 seconds. Lewis Hamilton again finished in the top three for the final practice session.​

Free Practice 3 started slow, with George Russell taking to the track first, followed by the two McLarens. Mercedes fixed the issues George discussed yesterday with the vibrations and steering. During the first part of the session, there was very little activity on the track, with only Kevin Magnussen posting a time for the first ten minutes.​

The only crash was from Kick Sauber's Valtteri Bottas, who clipped the wall at the second Swimming Pool chicane. This blocked the track for Lewis to get past and caused a brief red flag.

McLaren continued to struggle for most of the session with Oscar briefly going off track after a lock up and Lando seemingly struggling for speed compared to Imola and Miami.

Both Aston Martins started with a different strategy than the other teams. They did long runs on the medium tyres before switching to the soft tyres later in the session.

The fine margins, traffic and quick laps will make qualifying an interesting session.

Out in Q1
16) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
17) Logan Sargeant (Williams)
18) Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
19) Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
20) Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)

During the first 18 minutes of qualifying, the drivers were lined up early, waiting to leave the pit lane, led by Lewis Hamilton. Everyone took to the track immediately except the Ferraris and Hulkenberg's Haas.
​
In what was arguably the most important qualifying of the year, the leaderboard was a constant shuffle of positions. Each driver took turns at the top, from the Haas drivers to George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, and Charles Leclerc.​

At the end of the session, under 0.3 seconds covered P1 to P11, and 0.568 seconds covered the top 18 drivers. Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso's chances of pole were taken away, as both missed out on Q2, along with Logan, Bottas, and Guanyu.

Out in Q2
11) Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
12) Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
13) Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
14) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
​15) Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

During Q2, some traffic pressure was eased, but Hulkenberg and Ocon were noted for impeding, which will be looked at after the session.

It was a challenging session for the Mercedes duo, with Lewis and George finding themselves in the 9th and 10th positions. However, they put in faster laps at the end of the session to make it through to Q1.

​Sainz, Verstappen, Piastri, and Norris all topped the Q2 leaderboard, with Norris producing the fastest time during the session, 1:10.732, over 1.2 seconds quicker than pole position last year.​

​For the first time this season, Pierre Gasly and Alpine, along with Alex Albon in his Williams, made it into Q3.

Starting Top 10
1) Charles Leclerc   1:10.270
2) Oscar Piastri         + 0.154
3) Carlos Sainz         + 0.248
4) Lando Norris         + 0.272
5) George Russell     + 0.273
6) Max Verstappen    + 0.297
7) Lewis Hamilton      + 0.351
8) Yuki Tsunoda         + 0.588
9) Alex Albon              + 0.678
10) Pierre Gasly         +1.041

During Q3, there was a multi-way battle for pole between McLaren, Ferrari and Max Verstappen. In the end, it was Charles Leclerc who came out victorious with pole position in his home race on Sunday.
​
Charles Leclerc made a statement by topping the leaderboard early on in the session with an impressive 1:10.418, and he increased his lead even more in the closing stages with a 1:10.270. Oscar Piastri gave Charles a good challenge, finishing P2 with a 1:10.424, splitting the Ferraris in the top three.

Max Verstappen missed out on pole position and could only manage a P6 start for Sunday's race after hitting the wall on his final lap in Q3.

For the first time this season, Alex Albon and his Williams, along with Pierre Gasly and his Alpine, will both start in the top ten tomorrow. Along with Yuki Tsunoda finishing in P8 in his RB.

After qualifying, Charles said, "it was nice, the feeling after qualifying and after the qualifying lap is very special. I'm very happy about the lap, the excitement is so high that it feels really good." 

However, Charles has been in this position before. This is his 12th pole steak without a win and his 3rd pole in Monaco without a win; he acknowledged this and went on to say, "I know more often than not that qualifying is not everything as much as it helps for Sunday's race, we need to put everything together and in the past years we didn't manage to do so."

But he expressed his optimism by continuing on to say that Ferrari is a "stronger team and in a stronger position, so I'm sure we can achieve great things tomorrow, and a win is the target." 

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer @ F1 Journal

The Monaco Grand Prix is run slightly differently from other race weekends. F2 and F3 practice was held on Thursday and qualifying for both series was split into two groups, which took place on Friday.​

The Formula 1 schedule follows the same format as a typical race weekend, with Free Practice One and Two taking place on Friday. Both saw Max struggle with pace, Charles dominating and Lewis Hamilton following closely behind him.​

All ten teams brought track-specific upgrades to the race weekend, with most teams changing to circuit-specific rear wings and beam wings to help with the high downforce at the circuit. McLaren also has a special Senna livery for this historic race to commemorate Senna's dominance around these streets.

Top 10 Results
1) Lewis Hamilton   1:12.169
2) Oscar Piastri       1:12.198
3) George Russell   1:12.295
4) Lando Norris       1:12.396
5) Charles Leclerc   1:12.397
6) Fernando Alonso 1:12.775
7) Lance Stroll         1:12.789
8) Yuki Tsunoda       1:12.875
9) Daniel Ricciardo  1:12.901
10) Carlos Sainz      1:12.954

Excitement for Mercedes in the rain threatened Free Practice 1, with Lewis Hamilton finishing fastest and George in third place, with just Oscar Piastri in his McLaren, splitting the two Mercedes. McLaren changed their signature papaya to yellow, navy and green to commemorate Senna. Still, it didn't stop Oscar and Lando from being at the top of the leaderboard for most of FP1, doing 31 and 33 laps on a mix between the hard, medium and soft tyres during the session.​

The same can't be said for Alpine, who faced a significant setback. Pierre Gasly was only able to complete ten laps due to a power unit failure early on in the practice session. Despite their best efforts to fix the issue, Gasly returned to the track with no power, forcing him to return to the pits and not come back onto the track for the rest of the session.

With the circuit evolving each and every lap, the drivers dealt with low grip, the slow corners and trying to find the smallest margins. Charles, Lando, Max and Lewis tested how close they could get to the walls. Zhou scraped the wall slightly, causing debris to fall on the track. Charles unluckily ran over the debris and picked up some floor damage, causing a red flag and a brief pause in running with 15 minutes to go in the session.

Both Red Bull and Ferrari chose to do long runs on the hard and medium tyres, preserving their softs for later in the weekend. This calculated move could potentially give them an advantage in the upcoming races. However, Perez of Red Bull had a setback with a puncture in his left rear medium tyre, forcing him to retreat back to the pits.

Timings for FP1 are a second off last year's pole, making for an exciting qualifying tomorrow.

Top 10 Results
1) Charles Leclerc    1:11.278
2) Lewis Hamilton     1:11.466
3) Fernando Alonso  1:11.753
4) Max Verstappen   1:11.813
5) Lando Norris        1:11.953
6) Carlos Sainz         1:11.962
7) Lance Stroll          1:12.062
8) Sergio Perez        1:12.099
9) Alex Albon            1:12.257
​10) George Russell  1:12.260

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer @ F1 Journal

F1
Friday: FP1 12:30pm to 1:30pm (BST)                   FP2 4pm to 5pm (BST)
Saturday: FP3 11:30am to 12:30pm (BST)             Qualifying 3pm to 4pm (GMT+1)
​Sunday: Race 2pm (GMT+1)

2023
Qualifying -
               1 VER 1'11.365
               2 ALO 1'11.449
               3 LEC 1'11.471
Race -
​              1 VER (1 stop)
              2 ALO (2 stop)
              3 OCO (2 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'15.650 HAM L33

2022
Qualifying -
              1 LEC 1'11.376
              2 SAI 1'11.601
              3 PER 1'11.629
Race -
​             1 PER (3 stop)
             2 SAI (2 stop)
             3 VER (3 stop)
Fastest Lap - 1'14.692 NOR  L55

2021
​Qualifying -
              1 LEC 1'10.346
              2 VER 1'10.576
              3 BOT 1'10.601
Race -
​            1 VER (1 stop)
            2 SAI (1 stop)
            3 NOR (1 stop)
Fastest Lap - 1'12.909 HAM  L69

Anny Wooldridge
Writer @ F1 Journal

Max Verstappen holds of the incoming Mclaren of Lando Norris to win the 2024 Emilia-Romagna grand prix by 0.725 and Charles Leclerc gave the tifosi Ferrari's first podium at the track since Michael Schumacher in 2006. 

Race Facts

• Max Verstappens 59th career win
•  Verstappens start to win rationis now 30.7%, just above Hamilton's 30.4%
• Mercedes 300th F1 Grand prix
• Lance Strolls 150th race start 

Max Verstappen starts the seventh race of the season on pole. Light out and Verstappen manages to get the best Lando Norris in their race start, as the Ferrari's put pressure on the Mclaren from behind. Kick starting the race long fight between the teams. Piastri is not far from the leading pack after receiving a post qualifying penalty of  3 grid places for impeding Kevin Magnussens during Saturday's session. 
Further down the order Ricciardo had a disappointing start slipping from ninth to 11th and Perez starts his climb into the points after starting 11th and Alonso started his race from the pit lane after his Aston Martin's suspension was modified.

George Russell pits on lap 22 starting a new wave of pit stops for the front runners. Lando Norris pits on lap 23 but is sent out into traffic as Perez manages to come round the track to get in front as the papaya car gets on track. Perez fails to hold of the brit as Norris passes him while his teammate Piastri goes into the pit.  A lap later after reporting problem with his front tyre grips Verstappen is sent in for a new set. Ferrari and Hamilton yet to pit but once they do Max and Lando were back out front continuing to lap the back of the grid and Oscar was left sandwiched between the Ferrari's.

42 laps down as the drivers move into the final third of the race and the continues to keep fans on edge. Piastri continuing to fend off Sainz, Charles creeping in on Lando and now Verstappen on his final track limit warning. A mistake from Leclerc as he bounces across the grass to lose time in the battle for second. During this front running battle Alex Albon's race comes to the end as he becomes the only DNF of the day with 15 laps to go. After taking his 10 second penalty earlier in the race, it will not be taken over to next weekend race in Monaco.

All eyes focus on front two as once 6 seconds ahead of Norris, Verstappen faces issues with his tyres and is beginning to drop back. Norris giving everything he can to close that gap with 10 laps to go. However it just not enough and Max Verstappen takes the win by less than a second. Charles Leclerc follows to complete Imola's podium.
Oscar Piastri finishes ahead of Carlos Sainz after an intense race long battle for fourth.
Hamilton, Russell, Perez, Stoll and Tsunoda crossing over the as the rest of the point finishers. George picking up an extra point for fastest lap.
Lando Norris is this weekend driver of the day.

RESULTS
1 VER 1:25:25.252
2 NOR +0.725
3 LEC +7.916
​4 PIA +14.132
5 SAI +22.325
6 HAM +35.104
7 RUS +47.154
8 PER +54.776
9 ST +1:19.556
10 TSU + 1 LAP
11 HUL
12 MAG
13 RIC
14 OCO
15 ZHO
16 GAS
17 SAR
18 BOT
19 ALO
DNF ALB 

Bronwen Jones
Writer @ F1 Journal 

Max Verstappen matching Aytron senna as he get his eight consecutive pole as hes back at the top after a difficult start to the weekend, struggling with his power steering and grip throughout the free practice session. McLaren continue excite their fans with a front row spot.

​Oscar provisionally alongside Verstappen as we wait to hear the steward’s decision with his investigations for impeding Kevin Magnussen, but Lando is just behind in third. Piastri could recieve a three place penalty putting him in fifth behind both Ferrari's. After consistently being in the top three this weekend Ferrari struggled to find the time they hoped for, putting themselves in fourth and fifth.

Aston Martin face a stressful weekend as their new upgrades didn’t go their way with neither driver making Q3 and Alonso starting tomorrow in 19th. Unlike Haas who have Nico Hulkenberg starting 10th.

Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston Martin bring upgraded cars to Italy. The teams – bar Ferrari. Leaving RB as the only team to have not updated their car by round seven of the 2024 season, however Ricciardo and Yuki both making it into the top 10 at the second most difficult track to over tack round of the season, behind Monaco. Tsunoda getting his highest start of the season in seventh.

Q1
OUT
16 BOT
17 ZHO
18 MAG
19 ALO
20 SAR
 
An unfortunate session for Kevin Magnussen in his Haas who ran into trouble with Oscar Piastri. The incident cost Magnussen his hot lap and an improvment on his track position as he now starts tomorrows race in 18th. Piastri who has been impressive in front of the Italian is now under investigation. 
​
 Alonso’s bad weekend also continues as he exceeds track limits running off into the gravel ruining his hot lap and is eliminated in 19th as Logan Sargent fails to get anytime on the board who goes 20th.

Q2 
 OUT
11 PERZ
12 OCO
13 STR
14 ALB
15 GAS
 
Verstappen seems to be getting more comfortable with his Red Bull as he  gets Q2 on the way with the fastest lap of the weekend so far however Charles Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda retaliate
Great session from Hulkenburg who escapes the elimination zone with 30 seconds to go pushing himself into sixth.

The Dutchman finishes with all purples sectors putting himself top while his teammate Perez gets eliminated in 11th as he couldn’t find the extra pace that “Red Bulls B team” RB could as Riccardo gets into Q3 alongside Tsunoda.

Disappointment for Aston martin as their new upgrades have failed to impress with both drivers out before Q3
“what a mess” – Sergio Perez

Bronwen Jones
writer @ F1 Journal

Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston Martin bring upgraded cars to Italy. The teams – bar Ferrari – only providing one of their cars with these upgrades to compare the new and old packages. Leaving RB as the only team to have not updated their car by round seven of the 2024 season.

Adding seven items purely to improve their aero dynamics Ferrari are seeing the benefits as Charles Leclerc topped the leader board during both practices on day one of the Emilia-Romagna grand prix. Following the no.16 Ferrari was Oscar piastri and Yuki Tsunoda.
​
Not feeling the changes, the championship leader, Max Verstappen, finished his Friday in 7th position as neither Red bull managed to put their car in the top 3. Verstappen was among many drivers to push track limits, after being sent off-track in windy conditions.
Down the order Miami’s winner Lando Norris finished his day down in 12th.

​Free Practice 1
Top 10 Results
1 LEC 1:16.990
2 RUS +0.104
3 SAI +0.130
4 PER +0.243
5  VER +0.250
6 TSU +0.398s
7 HAM +0.418s
8 NOR +0.612s
9 PIA +0.817s
10 ALO +0.877s
 
Home excitement started early this weekend in Italy with Leclerc and Sainz finishing the first session with the fastest and third fastest lap, split by George Russell in his Mercedes. The session didn’t belong to Leclerc, who went top with 20 minutes to go, as Russell and Sainz both saw the top spot throughout. Russell going fastest not long after a new kerb claimed him as a victim. Being one of many, including Ricciardo and Hamilton who shortly followed, to new kerbs and gravel traps at the track this weekend.   

Returning to the formula one paddock Ollie Bearman was one of the first on track. The brit completed his first of six planned FP1 appearances, replacing Kevin Magnussen at Haas to go 15th, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who finished bottom of the pack after only completing  20 laps. later in formula 2 the Ferrari reserve driver put himself on the front row during quali.
Both Williams and kick Sauber driver pairings filling the positions between the Haas’s.

While packages provided support up the field, Williams were not receiving the same benefits as mechanical issues left Alex Albon in the grass and a red flag on display. Being one of only two teams, along with Kick Sauber, to not score this season, fp1 was defiantly not what Williams wanted.

Free Practice 2
Top 10 Results
1 LEC 1:15.906
2 PIA +0.192
3 TSU +0.380
4 HAM +0.391
5 RUS  +0.405
6 SAI +0.517
7 VER +0.541
8 PER +0.646
9 HUL +0.920
10 ALO +0.932
 
After difficulties in FP1 Williams were the last to join the field, 20 minutes into the session. On track these issues continued as they ended the hour in 18th and 20th. Max Verstappen still unhappy with his car as he voiced his problems with his grip and eventually was back in the gravel. The Red Bulls finishing day one in 7th and 8th.

More positively Oscar Piastri, who has now received full upgrades on his Mclaren this weekend following from Lando Norris’s maiden win in Miami, was the closest to Leclerc with only 0.192s separating the two. While Norris was +1.074s behind the top spot, sitting in 12th.
Charles Leclerc managing to secure the fastest lap less than 15 minutes into fp2, even with his power steering causing him bother. Sainz started the session milliseconds behind his teammate but began to slip away from the Monegasque who continued to improve. This session the Spaniard allowed both the Mercedes to get times up on him, with Hamilton ahead of Russell in 4th and 5th.

Tsunoda held his top 3 position going into the final quarter of the session. Following the session car 22 received his first reprimand of the season after an investigation was launched against him for performing a practice start before the pit exit light.

Hulkenberg made immense improvements finding himself the ninth fastest lapt of fp2 after being the slowest in fp1. Kevin Magnussen was back in his car in 17th,  behind Valtteri Bottas in 16th. Zhou made no change staying in 19th.

Alonso completed the top 10 in 10th with fellow Aston Martin Lance stroll in 13th.
The Alpines finished side by side in 14th and 15th.
​
This day of new packages and track additions looks to lead to a very exciting weekend.

Bronwen Jones
Writer @ F1 Journal

Its back to Imola for the Emila Romagna Grand Prix weekend after a years break when the event was forced to be cancelled just 48 hour before the race was due to take place. The entire region was hit by huge rain fall and mass flooding, many parts of the track ending up under water for weeks.
Imola truly is one of the crowning jewels on the F1 Calendar and if Monza is the temple of Speed, Imola is the Garden of Speed(en). It's a track that pushes car and driver to the edge and with the removal of 3 tarmac run off areas, and them being replaced with gravel traps the consequences of getting it wrong here are even greater in 2024 than they have been previously. But we are Pro gravel here so we approve these track changes fully!!! 

​Times Held- 30
First Time Held- 1980 
Laps Raced- 1,833
Finishing Percentage- 45.8% 
Pole Record- 1'13.609
Lap Record- 1'15.484
Winners- 16
Pole Sitters-15 
Podium Finishers- 39
Most Driver Poles- 8 SEN 
Most Team Poles- 9 Mclaren 
Most Driver Wins- 7 SCH 
Most Team Wins- 8 Ferrari/Williams
Most Driver Podiums- 12 SCH 
Most Team Podiums- 24 Ferrari
Most Fastest Laps(Driver)- 5 SCH 
Most Fastest Laps(Team)- 8 Ferrari
Most Consecutive Wins(Driver)- 3 SCH 
Most Consecutive Wins (Team)-  3 Ferrari/Williams 
Most 1-2 Finishes- Mclaren 3
Times Won From Pole- 10
Times Won from Front Row- 19 
Lowest Starting Position to Win- 5th Piquet 80/81
Smallest Pole Margin- 0.008s SCH '95 
Smallest Win Margin- 0.215s ALO '05
Largest Pole Margin-1.053s MAN '92
Largest Win Margin- +1 lap EDA
Most Cars to Finish- 22 multiple years 
Least Cars to Finish- 5 '82/85
Virtual Safety Car- 3
Safety Cars- 5
Red Flags-     3     
Rain(during the race)- 6 '81,'91,'93,'95,'21 &'22

Enjoy guys 
Joanna Blackmore 
Writer @f1journal.co.uk

Hamilton seemed happier in his car that yesterday's Sprint Qualifying going 3rd ahead of Leclerc when he put new soft tyres on his Mercedes as Sainz went fastest of all. Norris who was gutted not to take Sprint Pole after a mega performance in SQ1 & 2, was hoping he could make it happen today for the Grand Prix. 4 minutes to go and we saw all the dive into the pits to make the changes they want before they make their final runs to get through to Q2.

Joanna Blackmore 
Writer @f1journal.co.uk

20 minutes to go Norris found his pace going 2nd fastest behind a rapid Carlos Sainz, Perez was 3rd, Piastri 4th, followed by the Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton. Max Verstappen was down in 16th having trouble with his brakes locking. 
12 minutes to go and we saw the 1st set of Soft tyres on the Sauber's  of Zhou & Bottas. Albon had a big snap at turn 4 on his soft tyre run when the rear locked on him into a very high speed section, Verstappen again had a snap on the rear at turn 7 really not happy with his car today. ​

Joanna Blackmore 
​Writer @f1journal.co.uk