Mercedes returned to the top of Formula 1 times when Valtteri Bottas completed a double on Friday ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that weekend.
There was plenty of action during the two hour long workouts as the Imola circuit looked gleaming in the spring sunshine and there were many talking points that emerged from the day.
Here are five things we learned from training on Friday at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix …
A troubled day for Red Bull
Red Bull and Max Verstappen were named favorites ahead of the weekend’s event after their narrow loss to Lewis Hamilton three weeks ago in Bahrain.
Confidence in the Red Bull camp was rightly high as it seemed to hold its lead over Mercedes at the season opener despite ultimately losing the win and there was a real sense of optimism towards Imola.
On Friday, however, things did not go optimally when Sergio Perez lost the decisive run after a collision with Esteban Ocon from Alpine in FP1 to bring himself up to date in his new team before a failure of the drive shaft restricted Verstappen’s program in the second Exercise.
On the subject of matching items
Verstappen admitted that Red Bull was “a bit” on the backfoot of qualifying at Imola, but the Dutchman remains optimistic about his side’s chances as he attempts his run from three consecutive failures on Italian soil this weekend break.
Mercedes returns to form
The practice assignment looked a lot more familiar at Imola when Botta’s Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton led the way to the top of the time in both races one and two.
Bottas and Hamilton came to the conclusion that they felt “much happier” with their W12 F1 car and that they were strengthened by the clear step forward that Mercedes took when the reigning world champion got back into shape after his competitive battles in Bahrain were.
The team has worked hard to understand why its 2021 challenger currently has no strengths over Red Bull’s RB16B. Bottas announced on Thursday that he had “lost” the number of setups he had experimented with in the simulator between races.
On the subject of matching items
Hamilton said he believed that a combination of Mercedes’ work during the three-week break, Imola’s layout and lower temperatures than in Bahrain helped the team find a “nice sweet spot” with their car.
While Friday was hugely encouraging for Mercedes, despite the problems on the first day, both drivers remain concerned about the threat from Red Bull. Bottas is convinced that there will be a lot more of their main rivals to come.
AlphaTauri in front of an overloaded midfield?
A very impressive lap by Pierre Gasly ensured that AlphaTauri finished the day third fastest and just 0.078 seconds behind Bottas’ benchmark, while Yuki Tsunoda was also seventh in FP2.
Gasly did much of his run on the soft compound, showing a strong pace on both short and long runs.
It was also an encouraging afternoon for Ferrari when Carlos Sainz was within three tenths of Bottas’ pace and team-mate Charles Leclerc was not far behind in P5.
Conversely, McLaren didn’t seem as competitive as it was in Bahrain, so Lando Norris was expecting a battle for the Titans’ qualification for the third quarter.
“It looks very close,” Norris admitted. “Ferrari looks very strong. A good step stronger than in Bahrain.
“AlphaTauri are looking very fast. So it’s going to be difficult. Getting into the third quarter will be important.”
Antonio Giovinazzi and Lance Stroll finished the RP2 in the top 10 for Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin, while Fernando Alonso noted an improvement in performance as Alpine drove new aerodynamic parts on the A521 to evaluate the planned improvements to move in the direction of move in front of midfield.
“We managed to complete our test item program and I’m happy,” said the returning two-time world champion. “Satisfied with the progress, all new parts appear to be working.
“We need to do more analysis but are pretty optimistic that they take a step forward in terms of performance. So let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
Old school Imola bites back hard
Imola’s iconic, tight and curvy old school layout proved to be a real test of the field on Friday as some drivers made mistakes, some bigger than others.
After Haas newcomer Nikita Mazepin finished the Bahrain Grand Prix at the season opener, he was pirouetted twice that morning.
The Russian brought out the second red flag of the first RP when he threw his VF-21 into the barriers after walking far on the gravel. Haas team boss Günther Steiner admitted that his driver “sometimes tries a little too much – but he needs to find this limit”.
Red flags were again waving in the closing stages of FP2 when Leclerc lost control of his Ferrari and went off into Rivazzi while pushing hard and ending the afternoon with a shunt against the wall.
With very little margin for error, cutting out mistakes is key to securing this important starting position in qualifying.
F1’s latest political war begins
Political warfare is nothing new in Formula 1, but the Imola paddock rumbled on Friday with its latest story. Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer revealed that the Silverstone-based team is pushing the FIA to change their aero rules mid-season.
Aston Martin was frustrated with the new ground changes being introduced for 2021 to reduce downforce, which it believes has unfairly penalized teams who drive low-rake cars, including themselves and Mercedes.
Szafnauer wants the FIA to “fair” things between high-rake and low-rake runners by making an unprecedented U-turn on rule changes made this winter, and even refused to rule out legal exclusions, if planned conversations don’t do so, go the way it hopes.
In response, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said he was “struggling to get my head around”. Aston Martin’s stance is “a little naive” considering that such changes could be made during the season.
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