Lando Norris set himself up for a bid at claiming his first pole position since 2025’s season-opening round on Saturday at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix by beating Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen to the fastest time in final practice.
After being shaded by his championship-leading team-mate Piastri in both of Friday’s practices sessions at Imola, Norris turned the tables in the final session before the all-important qualifying hour at 3pm – live on Sky Sports F1.
Norris’ quickest time on the soft tyres of 1:14.897 was exactly one tenth of a second faster than Piastri’s, although the latter’s best effort came on his second lap on Pirelli’s new softest compound when performance from the tyre would not have been quite as strong.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was 0.181s back in third place although he set his best time on the slower medium compound after failing to improve on the red-marked softs.
The Dutchman has beaten the McLaren to pole position at the last two grands prix, and three of the last four, and Red Bull again look to have improved the handling of his RB21 after a difficult start in Practice One.
Verstappen was not the only driver to set his quickest time of the hour on the theoretically slower mediums, with Pirelli’s new C6 tyre – the quickest compound in the Italian manufacturer’s range which is debuting at Imola this weekend – proving difficult to keep in the correct operating window for the entire 3.05-mile Imola lap.
Track conditions are slightly cooler at a cloudier Imola on Saturday, but the McLarens appear to again have an advantage when the onus is on tyre preservation.
Italy’s own Kimi Antonelli, though, did make a late improvement on the softs to vault into fourth for Mercedes, although that was still half a second behind Norris’ time with McLaren clearly remaining the team to beat after a clean sweep of one-two finishes through practice.
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Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson spun his car in dramatic fashion during final practice at Imola
Charles Leclerc was once more the lead Ferrari driver in fifth with Lewis Hamilton, who struggled with braking on Friday, three tenths further back in 10th after a session which included a mistake at the second Rivazza when he went into the gravel.
Williams’ fine form continued with Carlos Sainz taking sixth and Alex Albon ninth, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar bounced back from his Friday crash to take seventh ahead of the second Mercedes of George Russell.
“Lots to digest after that session,” said Sky Sports F1’s Anthony Davidson.
“Which tyre do you want to be on when it comes to qualifying?
“One thing that has stayed consistent is the two McLarens are out in front. Not by a huge margin and Verstappen in third did his best lap time on the medium tyre.
“Can Red Bull get enough performance out of the car on the softs, which it looked like they were missing then?
“We could be looking at another Suzuka-style effort from Max Verstappen.”
Sky Sports F1’s Emilia Romagna GP Schedule
Saturday May 17
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.10pm: Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: EMILIA ROMAGNA GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments to have taken place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Sunday May 18
7.25am: F3 Feature Race
8.55am: F2 Feature Race
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Emilia Romagna GP build-up
2pm: The EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Emilia Romagna GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
*Also live on Sky Sports Main Event
F1’s European season begins with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime