What happened in tight first practice at Imola

Oscar Piastri led a McLaren 1-2 in the opening Emilia Romagna Grand Prix practice, yet the team's Formula 1 rivals were close in pursuit.

The session marked the debut of Pirelli's new C6 tyre, the softest compound in the manufacturer's 2025 tyre range, which was extensively used by teams already in these opening, shortened 58 minutes.

The session was cut short by a last-gasp crash for Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto, whose car went nose-first into the barrier at Rivazza 2. Bortoleto was unhurt.

Though the comparison between C6 and this weekend's medium, the C5, appeared generally inconclusive during the session, in the end all the best times were set on C6s.

Piastri led team-mate Lando Norris by 0.032s, but three more cars slotted in within a tenth of the pacesetting McLaren.

These were Carlos Sainz's Williams, George Russell's Mercedes (Russell having set his time fairly early in the session) and Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari.

The Ferrari SF-25 generally looked a handful during the session, with some grass-cutting from Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc repeatedly dipping into the gravel - but all the while Hamilton at least seemed to have a much easier time stringing competitive laps together, ultimately finishing seven places ahead of 12th-placed Leclerc.

Pierre Gasly completed a top six covered by 0.151s in the Alpine, but there was a full two tenths between Gasly in sixth and former team-mate Max Verstappen in seventh.

Verstappen reported that he was struggling to "rely" on the rear axle of his Red Bull RB21 and that it was "drifting everywhere".

Colapinto's first Alpine session

Scott Mitchell-Malm

New Alpine driver Franco Colapinto's final result in FP1 (17th) was compromised by his initial soft tyre run having to be aborted after the first sector, when he dipped his outside wheels into the gravel exiting the second chicane.

Colapinto - who has replaced Jack Doohan - thus set his best lap at the second attempt when the tyres were fractionally off their best and a double cooldown effort was required to get the temperatures of the fragile C6 compound under control.

It was respectable enough, just under seven tenths off Gasly - the bulk of which was lost in the middle sector, which included the Tosa hairpin in which Colapinto seemed to bleed a lot of time struggling to get the car turned mid-corner.

This is a reasonable starting point and the positive is the progression through the session. He was very obviously taking it easy initially, but gradually became more aggressive and started requesting a little more front wing to be able to attack more.

It is obvious from corner entry speed and turn-in approach that Colapinto is not maximising the grip of the car but that should come as he builds familiarity. So there is every reason to think this gap could already come down quickly in FP2.

FP1 times

1 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1m16.545s
2 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.032s
3 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.052s
4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.054s
5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.096s
6 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +0.151s
7 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.360s
8 Alexander Albon (Williams) +0.377s
9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +0.380s
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +0.453s
11 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.487s
12 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.532s
13 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.549s
14 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.576s
15 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.741s
16 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.811s
17 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +0.828s
18 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +0.901s
19 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +1.096s
20 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.117s