F1 championship leader Oscar Piastri tops both Friday practice sessions at Imola as he heads a McLaren 1-2 in FP1 and FP2.
An encouraging lap from Lewis Hamilton, who improves to P4 on new softs with a time that is just 0.096s slower than Oscar Piastri's best so far.
That is despite the seven-time world champion reporting that his Ferrari "won't stop" as he struggles under braking - particularly in the final sector.
Hamilton went P3 but was shuffled down a position when Lando Norris improved to make it a McLaren 1-2 behind his teammate.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri has gone fastest for the first time in FP1, with the McLaren driver going 0.054s faster than George Russell's Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc continues to complain about his helmet lifting on the straights.
"Helmet lift is horrible," the Monegasque reports over team radio.
Replays show Leclerc pushing his helmet down on the straight. He has returned to the pits so Ferrari can try and rectify the issue.
George Russell produces a huge lap to take top spot away from Lando Norris.
The Mercedes man goes over half a second clear with a 1m16.599s. Russell completed that lap on a second set of new softs. He has ran that much earlier than his rivals.
Max Verstappen completes his first flying lap on softs and only goes 11th. A big slide coming out of the final few corners won't have helped.
Another strong lap from Lando Norris, who pulls four tenths clear of the field with a 1m17.125s.
Interestingly, Gabriel Bortoleto has just popped up into second place for Sauber with a great lap on the medium tyres. Does that point towards the track ramping up?
A 1m17.491s puts Lando Norris on top of the early FP1 order for McLaren.
Norris is just 0.070s clear of Mercedes' George Russell, while Lewis Hamilton has improved to go P3 with a fastest overall middle sector.
Fernando Alonso sits fourth in his Aston Martin, with Charles Leclerc rounding out the top five in the other Ferrari.
Fernando Alonso has just gone fastest in his heavily upgraded Aston Martin.
The two-time world champion is two tenths clear of Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson and Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda.
Home hero Kimi Antonelli has set the early benchmark pace for Mercedes.
He produces a lap which is just 0.017 seconds faster than McLaren's Lando Norris, while Max Verstappen is third for Red Bull.
After missing media day so that he could rest and recover after feeling unwell, Charles Leclerc arrived at Imola overnight and has already hit the track in his upgraded Ferrari.
Green light at the end of the pitlane and the first hour of practice is go.
All F1 teams bar Williams and Sauber have brought upgrades to Imola.
Frontrunners McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are among those to run new parts in Friday practice.
McLaren and Ferrari have revised the rear corner of the car, while Red Bull have new sidepods and Mercedes have a new front wing, engine cover and front suspension.
Further down the order, Aston Martin are introducing a substantial package as they look to turnaround their fortunes.
There has been big changes at Alpine during the two-week break since Miami.
On the driver front, Jack Doohan has been replaced by Franco Colapinto after failing to score a point in the opening six races of the season.
Colapinto - who contested the final nine races of 2024 for Williams - will make his Alpine debut alongside Pierre Gasly this weekend at Imola following his promotion from reserve driver.
Doohan has returned to Alpine reserve while Colapinto prepares to contest the first of five races he has been signed on for as he looks to secure the seat for the rest of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Oliver Oakes resigned from his role as team principal following the Miami race, citing personal reasons, leaving the controversial Flavio Briatore as Alpine's de facto team boss.
Oscar Piastri has been in supreme form so far in 2025 to underline his status as the current favourite for the world championship.
The unflappable Australian has taken four wins from the opening six races to open up a 16-point advantage over McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who has not stood on the top step of the podium since the season-opener in Australia back in March.
Piastri has momentum on his side off the back of three consecutive victories with McLaren securing a dominant 1-2 last time out in Miami.
Can anyone halt Piastri's charge as we start the European leg of the 2025 campaign?
Good afternoon and welcome to our live text coverage of the 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
F1 heads to Imola for the first race of the European leg of the season, and the first race of a triple header which continues on to Monaco next week, and then Barcelona.
We have two practice sessions coming up for you today. The first of which takes place between 12.30-1.30pm BST, with FP2 at 4-5pm BST.
