Prix

Oscar Piastri controlled the rain-delayed race, extending his F1 Championship lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Oscar Piastri passed McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris with a bold early move to win the rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix and extend his Formula One lead to 16 points.

Charles Leclerc was a distant third for Ferrari on Sunday, as reigning champions McLaren celebrated their sixth one-two finish in 13 races and the third in a row.

The race at Spa-Francorchamps was red-flagged after an initial formation lap and delayed by an hour and 20 minutes due to the weather, with standing water and heavy spray affecting visibility.

Piastri was in no mood for hanging around when the racing got going with a rolling start after four laps behind the safety car to check conditions.

The Australian slipstreamed Norris through the daunting Eau Rouge section of the track and then scythed past down the Kemmel straight into Les Combes in a move of total commitment in the treacherous conditions.

“I knew lap one would be my best chance of winning the race. I got a good exit out of Turn One; lifted as little as I dared out of Eau Rouge,” he said.

“The rest of the race we managed really well. I struggled at the end. Maybe the mediums were not the best for the last five or six laps. We had it mostly under control.”

The win was his sixth of 2025, making the 24-year-old the first Australian – on a list that includes past world champions Jack Brabham and Alan Jones – to win that many races in a single F1 season.

Norris had a slight battery issue, with the Briton asking over the radio why he had “no pack”, before his race engineer assured him it was coming back, but he was not looking for any excuses afterwards.

“Oscar just did a good job. Nothing more to say. Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge, and had the slipstream and got the run,” he said.

“So, nothing to complain of. He did a better job in the beginning, and that was it. Nothing more I could do after that point. I would love to be up top, but Oscar deserved it today.”

Two-horse race

Piastri now has 266 points to Norris’s 250. The Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen is third but 81 points off the lead. The championship is more than ever a two-horse race, with Hungary up next weekend before the August break.

McLaren lead the constructors’ standings, with 516 points to Ferrari’s 248, while Mercedes fell further behind their Italian rivals on 220.

Piastri pitted on lap 12 of 44 to switch from intermediates to medium tyres on a drying track. Norris followed a lap later, but he opted for the hards and rejoined nine seconds behind.

The Briton might have hoped Piastri would have to pit again, but the Australian made the tyres last to the chequered flag on a one-stop strategy.

Piastri crossed the line 3.415 seconds clear of Norris, who had been chasing a third win in a row, and managed to reduce the gap in the final laps before late mistakes left the ever-calm Australian under no pressure.

Saturday sprint winner Verstappen finished fourth in his team’s first Grand Prix since the dismissal of team boss Christian Horner, with George Russell fifth for Mercedes.

Williams’s Alex Albon held off Ferrari’s seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton – last year’s winner with Mercedes – to secure sixth.

Hamilton had been one of four drivers due to start from the pit lane, but given a big boost by the switch to a rolling getaway and a fresh engine installed overnight.

The Briton was also the first to make the decision to switch to slicks and pit, gaining six places.

Liam Lawson was eighth for Racing Bulls, with Gabriel Bortoleto ninth for Sauber and Pierre Gasly securing the final point for Alpine.

The contrast to the outcome of a very similar incident in Canada two races ago between Mercedes’ George Russell and Verstappen was notable.

In Montreal, after the stewards took no action, Red Bull lodged a protest, but it was dismissed out of hand.

Piastri said: “Going back to Canada, I think he had to evade more there than he did today. So, yeah, I’m a bit confused to say the least.”

There was also the feeling within McLaren that Verstappen may have ‘gamed’ the system by exaggerating how much it affected him.

“I don’t think he had to evade me,” Piastri said. “He managed the first time.”

Team principal Andrea Stella said: “We’ll have to see also if other competitors kind of made the situation look worse than what it is.

“Because we know that as part of the race-craft, some competitors definitely have the ability to make others look like they are causing severe infringement when they are not.”

Verstappen said: “The thing is that it happened to me now a few times, this kind of scenario. I just find it strange that suddenly now Oscar is the first one to receive 10 seconds first.”

Was that because because there was no difference from what Russell did in Canada?

“Well, to the stewards, yes, (there was),” Verstappen said.

The end result was that Norris has moved himself on to four wins for the season, one short of Piastri.

“I felt like I drove a really strong race,” Piastri said. “Ultimately, when you don’t get the result you think you deserve, it hurts, especially when it’s not in your control.

“I will use the frustration to make sure I win some more races later.”

Both have two weekends off to reset and refresh before battle recommences at the Belgian Grand Prix, the start of the second half of the season.

The race started on a wet track after a soaking wet morning, but with the sun out and more rain heading towards Silverstone.

Verstappen held the lead through a brief challenge from Piastri off the line but he could not shake the McLarens, and Piastri was soon challenging him hard for the lead.

Before he could try a move, though, a virtual safety car was deployed after Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto crashed at Turn Two on lap four.

The race was restarted on lap seven, and Piastri was past Verstappen on the Hangar Straight before two laps were over, building a 2.9-second lead after just one lap.

It was then Norris’ turn to challenge the Red Bull, but Verstappen gifted him the position when he slid off at Becketts on lap 11, just as heavy rain started.

That brought the drivers into the pits for fresh intermediates. By then, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll had gained time by an earlier change to soft tyres when the track was drying and emerged in fourth place, with Hulkenberg in fifth after stopping for inters on lap 10, so benefiting when others had to drive on a wet track on slick tyres and then pit.

The rain became heavier and a safety car was deployed on lap 14. The race restarted on lap 18, but a second safety car was sent out within a lap after Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar ran into the back of Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes at Copse because he could not see him in the spray.

When the race restarted for the last time on lap 22, with Verstappen spinning from second down to 10th, Piastri started to try to build a lead but he was not able to get more than four seconds ahead before Norris came back at him – he was less than two seconds back by the time Piastri pitted to serve his penalty with nine laps to go.

Stroll was unable to hold on to his third place, soon being passed by Hulkenberg and then Hamilton and eventually dropping down to seventh place.

Behind Verstappen, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who was fifth at the restart, lost places to Hamilton and the Dutchman but was able to secure sixth place.

Williams’ Alex Albon was eighth, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who was frustrated by his team’s strategy costing him places in the topsy-turvy early part of the race, and then pitted a couple of laps too early for slick tyres as the track dried in the closing stages.

That dropped him to last, but he recovered to take ninth, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who also stopped early for slicks for the final time.

Verstappen said he “had to commit a lot” in the high-speed corners because of the low-downforce set-up the team had chosen, which made the car on edge in the demanding corners.

The low wing levels come with pros and cons – it gives faster speed on the straight but makes the car more difficult through the corners and potentially increases tyre wear.

Verstappen said: “We looked a bit slow on the other wing plus it was understeering to the moon, and I needed to get rid of that understeer. It was light on downforce but it seemed to work.”

Piastri was quickest after the first laps of qualifying but he failed to improve on his second lap, at least partly because of a couple of slides of the rear out of the final corner, Club.

The championship leader said: “I was happy with the first lap. It was mega, to be honest. I was trying to think of how I would go faster and I didn’t.

“The second lap was a bit messy but it has been tight all weekend; a little on the table, but we’ll never know if it’s enough.”

Piastri said he was “not that surprised Max is quick here”, it’s quite similar speed and conditions to Suzuka,” where Verstappen won from pole.

Norris, who trails Piastri by 15 points going into the race, which marks the halfway point of the season, said: “Good qualifying. I am not going to be unhappy with third, would love to be pole but Max did a good job, a fun qualifying today. Not the top but still a good day.

“It’s going to be fun tomorrow, a good fight, with the three of us, and probably with Lewis and Charles and George as well.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who suffered a blow to his already slim championship hopes when he was taken out of last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, was only 10th fastest, complaining about the balance of his car.

Red Bull are one of a number of teams with revised floors for this event, the others McLaren, Aston Martin, Haas, Williams and Sauber.

At Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso used the new floor in the first session, to end up 11th fastest, while team-mate Lance Stroll ran the previous specification for comparison and ended up just one place behind.

In warm temperatures and in front of a large crowd, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto both had huge spins at the ultra-fast Copse corner, remarkably without going off track and damaging their cars.

At last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said it was likelier that Russell would be at the team next season than Verstappen, but did not deny he was speaking to the world champion’s representatives.

Russell said: “I don’t take that personally because I made it clear from the beginning. I’m happy to be team-mates with anybody.

“I want to continue with Mercedes into the future. The fact is, Toto has never let me down. He’s always given me his word, but he’s also got to do what’s right for his team, which includes me. But it also includes the thousands of people who work for Mercedes.

“For me, it’s nothing to worry about because I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere. And whoever my team-mate will be, it doesn’t concern me either.

“I know where their loyalty lies. It doesn’t need to be public. It doesn’t need to be broadcast to everybody.

“I feel I’m performing better than ever. And it’s as simple as that really. Performance speaks for everything.”

Russell is fourth in the drivers’ championship, nine points behind Verstappen, and won last month’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Williams driver Alex Albon, who is a friend of Russell and a former team-mate of Verstappen, pointed to Russell’s performance as team-mate to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for three years, as well as the fact he has convincingly been ahead of his new team-mate Kimi Antonelli this season.

Albon said in a BBC Sport interview: “George is somehow underrated. I’m not just defending a friend here, but I don’t know a driver who can beat a seven-time world champion and be not sure of a seat.

“He’s doing a fantastic year this year as well.

“And as much as Kimi’s getting praise, George is still beating him pretty convincingly. So I guess you can sound me standing up for a friend of mine. But even if he wasn’t my friend, I’d still be saying the same words.

“I just hope the delay’s coming from him asking for a lot of money. And if he is, he deserves it.

“Otherwise, George is actually one of the most adaptable drivers on the grid. And wherever it ends up being, I think he should be considered as at the very least a top-three driver on the grid.”

It was a successful day all round for Mercedes with 18-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli finishing third for his first podium in Formula 1.

Antonelli – at 18 years and 294 days old – becomes the third-youngest podium finisher of all time behind Verstappen and Lance Stroll.

Starting fourth, he overtook championship leader Piastri at the start and dealt with pressure from the Australian in the closing stages of the race.

“It was so stressful but super happy,” Antonelli said. “The last stint I pushed a bit too hard behind Max and I killed a bit of the front left and I struggled a bit at the end, but I’m really happy to bring the podium home.”

“This track has been good for us and the car has been incredible all weekend. Hopefully we can carry the same momentum into the next few races.”

Russell said Mercedes performed so strongly at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve because a “smooth” track and “low-speed” corners suited the characteristics of the car.

Next on the calendar is Austria from 27-29 June and the Red Bull Ring will be a very different challenge to Montreal.

“It’s going to be on old tarmac, more high-speed corners and it’s going to be hot as well,” Russell said.

“We’ve got three things working against us. I’m not going to sit here and say Mercedes is back because we were the quickest team here last year but we didn’t win the championship. We know where we need to improve.”

The track characteristics have the opposite effect on championship leaders McLaren, whose car is the best in the field at managing tyre temperatures.

As a consequence, McLaren have been struggling to make it operate at its best in Montreal.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri is third on the grid behind Russell and Verstappen but his team-mate and title rival Lando Norris could manage only seventh, admitting that he had made two mistakes in the final session of qualifying.

Norris said: “I think we can go forwards anyway, but not a lot. You know, it’s not like we’re easy one-two, like we have been on other tracks.

“It’s just very low grip, first of all is one of the bigger things. And therefore the car balance just never comes together as much as what it does in other tracks.

“Probably just low grip and some of the kerb-riding and bumps, which just hurts us, it seems, more than some others.”

Norris was using a revised front suspension layout that was designed to increase the feel from the front axle of the car, the lack of which the Briton believes is important in the flip in form between himself and Piastri between last year and this.

Norris said it was “tough to say” whether this had improved the feeling coming from the car.

“This track, everything just feels different,” he said. “So I think it’s something we’ll have to wait and see on the next few races through Austria and Silverstone and so forth to understand and maybe back-to-back tests between them both.

“It’s nothing that I’ve felt just yet. But it’s more that when you go to a new track, it’s hard to remember everything perfectly relative to other tracks. So we just need a bit more time to understand if it’s any better or not.”

Piastri stuck with the old layout, saying: “It’s not an upgrade. It’s a different part. It changes some things, some things are better, some things are worse. I have been happy with how the car has been this year.”

Team principal Andrea Stella said: “From Lando’s point of view, there were no downsides. If anything, despite the result that we had in Q3 with Lando, pretty much right away, Lando has actually been competitive, especially compared to Oscar throughout the weekend.

“So we think that the experimentation of the front suspension is a successful one, and it’s a preference, it’s a set-up option in a way, that might be even different across drivers depending on their requirements from a driving point of view.”

The grid gives the Australian a good chance to extend his championship lead over Norris, who had a tricky session.

He missed the final chicane on his first lap of the top 10 shootout and had to be reminded not to push too much in the braking zones.

His second attempt was slower than Alonso’s first and Norris failed to improve on his final run, and was bumped further down by Russell, Antonelli and Hamilton.

Norris said: “Just a couple of big mistakes. One, hitting the wall on the last lap in the exit of (Turn) Seven and first lap, I think, last corner. So, yeah, just two mistakes that cost me, I guess.

“We’ve clearly not been as quick as normal. I think that’s just because of the layout of the track. I think the cars have been performing relatively well and I was happy through all of qualifying. Maybe not the car to take pole today, but good enough to be up there and fighting for top three.”

Alonso’s sixth place was Aston Martin’s best grid position of the season and confirms the progress the team have made since introducing an upgrade at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

“We maximised for sure the potential of the car,” Alonso said. “I feel happier with the car since Imola, since the upgrade.

“At the beginning of the year, it was a challenge to understand what the car needed and what kind of direction in the set-up I needed to go, but since Imola I am more comfortable and I can be more precise on the feedback and make the changes that I know will make the car faster and sometimes you succeed on that.

“Last four races, four Q3 (places). It makes the whole team a little more relaxed.”

Rounding out the top 10 behind Leclerc were Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Williams’ Alex Albon.

But Hadjar faces an investigation for impeding Williams’ Carlos Sainz at the end of the first session, preventing the Spaniard from progressing.

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, who qualified 11th, will start at the back because of a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking Piastri’s damaged McLaren after a red flag during final practice.

Stewards rejected Tsunoda’s explanations for his actions, saying Piastri was not going slow enough to excuse the breaking of a safety rule.

Warwick won the Le Mans 24 Hours, is a former president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club and is one of the most senior driver stewards in F1.

An ex-F1 driver is always one of the four stewards officiating at every grand prix.

Last week Warwick was quoted as saying that a penalty given to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix after the Dutchman apparently deliberately collided with Mercedes’ George Russell was “right”.

On a gambling website, Warwick said: “Should he have done what he did, in Turn Five with George Russell? Absolutely not. Did he get a penalty for that? Yes.

“It seems to me that, although he dove in, he then did turn away from George, but momentum pushed him against George. It is absolutely wrong and the FIA was right to give him a penalty.”

Warwick is the second driver steward to be punished by the FIA for commenting on races in the past six months.

In January Johnny Herbert was dropped by the FIA, which said his “duties as an FIA steward and that of a media pundit were incompatible”.

The FIA’s decision to suspend Warwick came a day after controversial statute changes were passed by the organisation’s general assembly.

The changes are said by critics to “risk further contributing to the erosion of the FIA’s reputation for competent and transparent governance” under president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Ben Sulayem’s time in office since 2021 has been marked by a series of controversies, the majority of which have been focused on the erosion of accountability and good governance and the introduction of measures that enhance his power and reduce oversight.

When there are questions about how stewards arrived at decisions during a grand prix, the FIA refuses to comment on the basis that stewards are “independent from the FIA”.

Before the madcap final laps, Verstappen had pressured the McLarens throughout with Red Bull’s strategy.

The Dutchman took second place from Norris into the first corner, after the Briton made a slow start but, after initially pressuring Piastri on the first lap, the McLaren began to pull away as Verstappen started to struggle with his tyres.

Soon, Norris was on Verstappen’s tail and passed him on lap 13, using the DRS overtaking aid down the main straight, and Verstappen made his first stop on the following lap.

McLaren stuck to their two-stop guns, leaving Norris and Piastri out for a further seven and eight laps.

When Verstappen stopped again on lap 29, McLaren knew he was on a three-stop strategy. He soon regained the third place he had lost to Leclerc and began closing on the McLarens in front of him.

Norris, about three to four seconds back from Piastri most of the time, held Verstappen four seconds behind.

And when the Red Bull pitted for the third time on lap 47, McLaren responded with first Norris and then Piastri on subsequent laps.

After the pit stops, the three were running nose to tail, but Piastri began to edge away from Norris, who likewise distanced himself from Verstappen before the safety car intervened.

Behind Russell, Nico Hulkenberg scored a great result for Sauber by passing Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari for fifth place after the restart.

Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar took seventh from Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, and Fernando Alonso fought back from running off track into the gravel in the first stint – after locking up a front brake into Turn Five – to claim his first points of the season with ninth place, ahead of Verstappen.

Although the hope behind the new rule was that it would add spice to the race, the spice was all theoretical as teams were on tenterhooks waiting for incidents that would require quick decisions.

But although Alpine’s Pierre Gasly crashed into the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull early on and broke his suspension and Fernando Alonso retired his Aston Martin with an engine failure, there was not a safety car that led to a strategy scramble.

At the first pit stops, the only change in order saw Hamilton jump ahead of Alonso, who then dropped back from the Ferrari, managing his engine problem before retirement.

Alonso, still on zero points, has now had his equal-worst start to a season ever, matched only by McLaren-Honda’s dire 2015.

Behind Hamilton, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar finished sixth, making two pit stops within a few laps of each other early in the race to end up on hard tyres and run to the end.

Haas driver Esteban Ocon was seventh, ahead of the second Racing Bull of Liam Lawson and the Williams of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Albon annoyed his good friend George Russell as he managed the traffic to manipulate the race to ensure he and Sainz could pit and both finish in the points.

Russell, complaining Albon was driving erratically, eventually cut the chicane to take the position and refused to give it back, saying he would “take the penalty”.

Russell was expecting a five-second penalty, but in fact he was given a drive-through, and he finished 11th, his race already ruined by the electrical problem in qualifying that left him 14th on the grid.

Lando Norris said his pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix was a “step in the right direction” and “quite a big thing” after being unhappy with his form since the start of this season.

The McLaren driver trails team-mate Oscar Piastri by 13 points in the championship after the Australian’s four victories to Norris’ one.

The pole was Norris’ first since the Australian Grand Prix at the start of the season, while Piastri has taken three.

Norris said: “To classify it as a breakthrough, you also need consistency of results.

“I can look at it both ways. It’s a breakthrough that I had a good Saturday. For me it’s at least a step in the right direction, which I’m very, very happy about.

“But it’s one weekend. Consistency is a big part of it, too, and I will be happier if I know and can get to that point where I am confident into every session that I can perform like I did today, because I think my performance was at a very, very strong level.

“If I go into Barcelona and Canada and the next few races and I can perform at this level, that is my goal.

But certainly today is a step in the right direction, whether it’s a small step or big step, it’s a step and that’s all I need for now.”

Norris beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.109 seconds in an exciting session in Monaco, as pole swapped between Norris and the Monegasque over their runs.

Leclerc did one flying lap, while McLaren chose to do two, staying out on track but cooling their tyres in between. Norris took pole, Leclerc snatched it from him, before the Briton grabbed it back again.

Norris has been working hard on improving his qualifying performance this season, after explaining that he has been finding it difficult to trust the McLaren car enough to be able to take it consistently to the limit in qualifying.

Asked to explain his step forward, he said: “Things from the car, just it being Monaco and a very different layout, a very different kind of style of driving that’s needed here. It’s a lot more risk commitment rather than just absolute car balance, in a way.

“And also things that I’ve been working on to improve, to do a better job.

“Never because I’ve not had the pace – just more that I’ve never put it together come Q3. today was probably the first time since Australia that I’ve really put it all together.

“It’s not like I’m driving quicker, it’s I’m driving in a better way, in a smarter way.

“But there’s been a lot of work that’s gone on. For me, even if I was pole in any other track, I think it probably would have been the pole that’s meant the most to me.

“It probably means even more that’s in Monaco, but more because of what’s happened over the last couple of months. It may not seem like a lot, but for me, it’s quite a big thing. So, yeah, like I said, a very, very good moment.”

He said he always believed he would get on top of the problem.

“I don’t think I have ever doubted what I can do,” Norris said. “I have got frustrated. I have been unhappy, because that’s normal if you don’t win, don’t get pole, you’re not going to be happy, especially when it’s where you should be. It’s what the objective is.

“Of course I’ve had those moments but I have never certainly this year doubted what I am capable of doing and having a day like today backs all that up so I’m happy with that.”

Charles Leclerc set the pace in first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix, despite consistently complaining about the behaviour of his Ferrari.

Leclerc, who won his home race for the first time last year, said at various times that Ferrari were “nowhere” and that there was “something wrong with the car”.

But he ended the session 0.163 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was third, 0.326secs off the pace, with Williams’ Alex Albon fourth and championship leader Oscar Piastri fifth.

Leclerc, who was pessimistic about Ferrari’s hopes for Monaco, had an incident-packed session.

He started it by taking to the escape road at Mirabeau on his very first lap, and soon afterwards hit the rear of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin at the Loews hairpin, after the Canadian veered into the Ferrari’s path while on a slow lap.

That damaged the Ferrari’s front wing, but Leclerc was able to continue. Stroll, though, took no further part in the session because of rear suspension damage and the need to change his gearbox.

It was a fitting drive to mark Red Bull’s 400th grand prix.

The two caution periods led to a see-sawing battle between the McLaren drivers for second place.

Piastri had been on target to pass Norris when the Briton made his only pit stop and looked set to lead to a fight with Norris coming back at Piastri on fresher tyres.

Shortly after Norris’ stop, Esteban Ocon’s Haas stopped on the hill between the Tosa and Piratella corners, leading to a virtual safety car (VSC) period.

Norris was ahead after the VSC because Piastri stopped for fresh tyres to avoid being vulnerable to cars behind.

Then, officials decided to deploy a full safety car when Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes stopped in exactly the same place as Ocon had.

This time, Verstappen and Norris stopped for fresh tyres and Piastri did not – because he had no appropriate ones still available – and that put Norris back behind Piastri, but on 16-lap fresher tyres.

Behind the safety car, Norris suggested that Piastri’s tyres “looked pretty dead” and they should not fight if they wanted to challenge Verstappen for the win.

But McLaren chose not to apply team orders and the two battled for three laps before Norris finally swept by into the first chicane with five laps to go, by which time Verstappen was out of reach.

The closing laps were compelling viewing, with the field alternating position between drivers on old tyres and those on fresh.

This allowed Hamilton to move up. He had started on hard tyres and ran long, which allowed him to make his first stop under the VSC, and again for fresh tyres under the safety car.

He passed Albon’s Williams and Leclerc and was just 1.4 seconds behind Piastri at the flag.

Leclerc fought hard to hold back Albon but was adjudged to have forced the Williams off track when they were side by side through Tamburello and Ferrari ordered him to hand the position back, giving Albon fifth place.

The Anglo-Thai’s team-mate Carlos Sainz finished eighth, ahead of the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, scoring the final point after his heavy crash in qualifying.

And the timing of the two safety cars also wrecked the hopes of Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso, after his excellent fifth place on the grid.

An early pit stop and a limited tyre allocation boxed Aston and Alonso in, and he bemoaned on the radio that he was “the unluckiest driver ever” as he slumped to an 11th-place finish.

Lewis Hamilton, on the occasion of his first race for Ferrari in Italy, was 11th fastest in the second Ferrari after being fifth, and just 0.096secs from Piastri, in the first session.

The seven-time champion said he had been happy with the car early on but between the sessions he “changed two tiny things that shouldn’t have had any effect at all, the smallest change we’ve probably done this year and we had some brake issues that made a massive difference, so that was then a fight with that.”

Hamilton was vague on what specifically the problem was.

Asked whether it was to do with the change to a different brake manufacturer at Ferrari from the one he was used to with Mercedes for 12 years, he said: “It’s not the transition. It’s the performance of…” and then his voice trailed off.

In the pool interview, which is the only driver access provided to the media on Friday, he was not pressed for an explanation.

He added: “It’s a lottery. We will roll the dice. We put on one and it works, put another one on and it doesn’t and we’ll see. I hope tomorrow we figure something out. We’re working on it for sure.”

Russell, who has had strong qualifying form this season, said that the decision to bring the softest three tyre compounds to this race could have an influence.

Pirelli has widened its range to six compounds this season, introducing a softest tyre that was originally intended only for street circuits, where tyre degradation is usually low.

However, it has been decided to use it in Imola to try to add an extra dimension to the grand prix, hoping the softer range of compounds might shift the race away from from the standard one-stop strategy at the track.

Russell said: “There is a lot of tyre degradation. We have the softest tyres here for the first time this season and that spices things up a bit.

“But we know McLaren generally seem to extend their advantage in those conditions.

“I had Oscar in my sights and then I didn’t. He passed Max and then went off. That’s just where we are at the minute as a team. We know our fight is with Max and the Ferraris.”

Williams driver Alex Albon said he did not expect strategy to change, saying the medium tyre had proved “really good” with “pretty low deg”.

The race runs were interrupted when Isack Hadjar, seventh fastest overall for Racing Bulls, lost his car on the exit of the Tamburello chicane and spun into the barriers.

The car appeared to have escaped largely undamaged, but Hadjar became stuck in the gravel as he attempted to return to the track and the session was red-flagged.

It did restart, but only in time for some drivers to do a single flying lap.

Behind Hadjar in the list of fastest times, Yuki Tsunoda was eighth fastest in the second Red Bull, ahead of Albon and team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Lance Stroll, given the responsibility to test Aston Martin’s major upgrades, which included a new floor, was down in 17th.

Team-mate Fernando Alonso, in the previous-specification car for a back-to-back comparison, was three places higher and 0.121secs quicker.

Stroll said the car felt “the same”. And although it features a new floor and engine cover, the Canadian described the upgrade as “small changes”.

The first practice session had been brought to a premature end when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto crashed at the second Rivazza corner, flicking into the barriers pretty much front-on and damaging his front wing and nose.

AN ICONIC F1 grand prix track is at risk of being axed from the race calendar.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola could be set to host its last F1 race.

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The famous circuit is the host for this weekend’s race in the 2025 season.

But F1 president Stefano Domenicali has admitted that it could be cut from the calendar.

There are currently two races in Italy, the one in Imola as well as the Italian GP at Monza.

Domenicali has suggested that with the increased interest in the motorsport, it could prove “difficult” for both to be kept.

He told RAI radio: “Italy has always been and will be an important part of Formula 1.

“It will be increasingly difficult to have two races in the same country because interest in F1 is growing and it’s a situation we will have to deal with in the coming months.

“It’s hard for this situation with Imola and Monza to continue together on the calendar for long.”

The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari debuted back in 1981.

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However, it has previously been cut as it was left off the calendar from 2006 until it was reintroduced in 2020.

This was when the race was rebranded as the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

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No other country in Europe has more than one race but Spain will have next year.

This is down to the overlap between the new Madrid track and last year of the Barcelona circuit.

The USA has three races with tracks in Miami, Las Vegas and Austin.

Speaking in 2024, Domenicali admitted that some tracks in Europe could become rotational in the calendar.

He said: “We have some news to share very, very soon with regard to the possibility in the mid-term to have some rotational European Grand Prix and some other new options coming later.

“This is something that, of course, we will clarify in the due course.

“It is true that we have a large demand for new possible venues that want to come in.

“Our choice will always be balanced between the right economic benefits that we can have as a system and also to leverage in the growth of the market.

“That we can see potential that will be beneficial for us to grow our business even further.”

Meanwhile, ahead of this weekend’s race Ferrari star Charles Leclerc has missed media duties due to illness.