Mercedes-AMG F1 | Official Team Website

Solid start for the team in Italy.

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Imola is the first European race of the season, which is why many teams have brought updates to the track, including our team. We have the second part of our update package from Miami.

After two sprint weekends, Imola is also another familiar Grand Prix weekend with three free practice sessions, meaning three hours of time to set up the cars for qualifying and the race.

However, practice time in FP1 was compromised by a red flag. FP2 then took place in the sunshine and without interruptions. After encouraging results in the morning, the team focused on long runs and further data gathering in the afternoon.

Contrary to most of the other drivers, both drivers started the session on the Hard tyres. Lewis and George were satisfied with the pace and balance of the car and could match the times of many drivers on the softer medium tyres.

In addition to long runs, the Mercedes duo also worked on their pace on one lap. As usual, the field was close together, with the first ten drivers within one second of each other.

The difficult old-school circuit in Imola does not forgive mistakes, but the team was able to repeat its strong form from FP1 and were overall content with their start of the weekend.

The fastest time in FP2 went to Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton was just under four tenths behind him in fourth place. George Russell finished P5 with a few small mistakes on his fast lap. Both drivers are confident that there is still more potential in the W15 to unlock.

Imola: Everything You Need To Know fp1

Decent start to the weekend in FP1

Practice time in FP1 was somewhat shorter, as the session had to be interrupted after the first third. Alex Albon had stopped in T13 in his Williams. However, the session was soon resumed.

In the end, George and Lewis finished in 2nd and 7th place, with the field very close together. The top ten were within less than nine tenths of a second of each other. Lewis in P7 was only four tenths behind Charles Leclerc's best time.

The action continues on Saturday with FP3 from 12:30 local time (11:30 UK time), before qualifying starts at 16:00 (15:00 UK time) at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

The track in Imola is very narrow and (as was confirmed in practice on Friday) very bumpy. This makes overtaking difficult and makes qualifying all the more important. Especially in view of the low tyre degradation and the fact that it is likely to be a one-stop race.

shov1

Lewis Hamilton

It’s been a good start to the weekend. We had a productive day and were able to run all three compounds. The balance of the car felt good, and I had a positive feeling out there. Several other teams look quick, in particular McLaren and Ferrari, but we’re a lot closer than we have been so far this season. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves though so let’s see how tomorrow goes.

I am really grateful to everyone back at the factory for working so hard to bring these updates. We are seeing improvements in the car and our performance on track.

george

George Russell

The car was feeling great today and both Lewis and I were happy behind-the-wheel. We looked reasonably competitive and slightly closer to the front of the field than we looked in Miami. Come Qualifying tomorrow we will find out exactly where we stand in the pecking order. McLaren looked very strong along with Ferrari but hopefully we can find a bit more speed and get closer to them. As always, it will be fine margins.

The team has done a great job to bring the updates to the car so quickly. It definitely feels like a step forward at this point. It’s great to see the motivation within the team despite having a few tough races recently.

shov

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We've had a productive day today. The car has been working well across the two sessions and we have been able to improve on the balance over the course of the day. The updates we have here all seem to be doing what we expect, which is encouraging, but the experience of the last few races has taught us that we have a fair size gap to close. We are hoping to close that gap progressively with developments over the next few events. There's still plenty that we can work on for both single lap and long run performance in the meantime. The gaps ahead aren't that big so we'll be looking hard to find a bit of additional speed overnight.

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2024 Emilia Romagna GP FP2 Result

<table><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Charles Leclerc</td><td>Ferrari</td><td>1:15.906</td><td>29</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Oscar Piastri</td><td>McLaren</td><td>1:16.098</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Yuki Tsunoda</td><td>Racing Bulls</td><td>1:16.286</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Lewis Hamilton</td><td>Mercedes-AMG</td><td>1:16.297</td><td>29</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>George Russell</td><td>Mercedes-AMG</td><td>1:16.311</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Carlos Sainz</td><td>Ferrari</td><td>1:16.423</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Max Verstappen</td><td>Red Bull</td><td>1:16.447</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Sergio Pérez</td><td>Red Bull</td><td>1:16.552</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Nico Hülkenberg</td><td>Haas</td><td>1:16.826</td><td>28</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Fernando Alonso</td><td>Aston Martin</td><td>1:16.838</td><td>29</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Daniel Ricciardo</td><td>Racing Bulls</td><td>1:16.967</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Lando Norris</td><td>McLaren</td><td>1:16.980</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Lance Stroll</td><td>Aston Martin</td><td>1:16.991</td><td>26</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Esteban Ocon</td><td>Alpine</td><td>1:17.008</td><td>31</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>Pierre Gasly</td><td>Alpine</td><td>1:17.064</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>Valtteri Bottas</td><td>Sauber</td><td>1:17.088</td><td>28</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>Kevin Magnussen</td><td>Haas</td><td>1:17.129</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>Alexander Albon</td><td>Williams</td><td>1:17.135</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>Zhou Guanyu</td><td>Sauber</td><td>1:17.606</td><td>28</td></tr><tr><td>20</td><td>Logan Sargeant</td><td>Williams</td><td>1:17.848</td><td>22</td></tr></tbody></table>

2024 Emilia Romagna GP FP1 Result

<table><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Charles Leclerc</td><td>Ferrari</td><td>1:16.990</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>George Russell</td><td>Mercedes-AMG</td><td>1:17.094</td><td>28</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Carlos Sainz</td><td>Ferrari</td><td>1:17.120</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Sergio Pérez</td><td>Red Bull</td><td>1:17.233</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Max Verstappen</td><td>Red Bull</td><td>1:17.240</td><td>21</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Yuki Tsunoda</td><td>Racing Bulls</td><td>1:17.388</td><td>29</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Lewis Hamilton</td><td>Mercedes-AMG</td><td>1:17.408</td><td>27</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Lando Norris</td><td>McLaren</td><td>1:17.602</td><td>17</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Oscar Piastri</td><td>McLaren</td><td>1:17.807</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Fernando Alonso</td><td>Aston Martin</td><td>1:17.867</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Pierre Gasly</td><td>Alpine</td><td>1:17.905</td><td>21</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Lance Stroll</td><td>Aston Martin</td><td>1:18.072</td><td>22</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Daniel Ricciardo</td><td>Racing Bulls</td><td>1:18.142</td><td>26</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Esteban Ocon</td><td>Alpine</td><td>1:18.612</td><td>29</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>Oliver Bearman</td><td>Haas</td><td>1:18.667</td><td>31</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>Valtteri Bottas</td><td>Sauber</td><td>1:18.827</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>Zhou Guanyu</td><td>Sauber</td><td>1:19.129</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>Logan Sargeant</td><td>Williams</td><td>1:19.901</td><td>22</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>Alexander Albon</td><td>Williams</td><td>1:20.050</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>20</td><td>Nico Hülkenberg</td><td>Haas</td><td>1:21.059</td><td>20</td></tr></tbody></table>

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