Ferrari will go into this afternoon’s Qualifying session full of confidence that they could lock out the front row after Charles Leclerc led Carlos Sainz in FP1.

Although he spun three spins in the session, Leclerc was comfortable ahead of Sainz. The championship leader kicked off his weekend programme with a 1:29.402 over eight tenths quicker than his teammate and just under a second and a half faster than Max Verstappen.

FP1 would be run in utterly filthy conditions as heavy rain, and cold conditions descended on Imola, causing the F2-F3 sessions to be either red-flagged or postponed because of the rain. Despite this, a good crowd braved the 11-degree temperatures as the rain began to ease, with track temperatures only hitting 14 degrees at the beginning of the session.

Several teams had brought upgrades to the Imola weekend, with Alpine and Alpha Tauri bringing new floor edges for the weekend whilst Mercedes brought a new sidepod inlet and diffuser for the opening weekend of the European leg of the championship. In addition, Red Bull brought several parts to Imola, with a new splitter wing and rear brake cooling being introduced to the team’s RB18.

Sainz and Esteban Ocon would go into the weekend with a new power unit after their teams switched to their second power unit as a precaution.

The first trio of drivers to head out onto the track was the Haas pairing of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas joining the pair as they tiptoed around the soaking wet circuit.

Bottas was the first to set a time with a 1:43.277 over a tenth quicker than Magnussen and nine-tenths faster than Schumacher, whilst on the other side of the track, the rest of the field left the pits to begin their session. 

Leclerc had his first scare at the exit of Variante Alta after taking much kerb on the entrance of the corner, forcing the championship leader to spin.

Next, to go off was Nicholas Latifi as he made a trip into the gravel trip down at Tosa after putting a wheel onto the grass, whilst Sainz and Alex Albon both made a trip across the grass at the Variante Alta.

Verstappen set the early pace with a 1:37.247 as Red Bull elected to run a higher rear wing in the wet, with the Dutchman improving on his second run as he broke into the 1:36s with a 1:36.158.

Sebastian Vettel had a brief scare down at the Rivazza after locking his brakes on the entry of the corner, but luckily for the German, he narrowly avoided the gravel trap and completed his first timed lap.

Lando Norris wasn’t so lucky as he became the first victim of the Rivazza gravel trap after going too hot into the corner and forcing him back to the pits to remove the scrubbed tyres.

Leclerc and Sainz responded to Verstappen’s benchmark with a pair of 1:35s, Leclerc over a tenth ahead of Sainz after setting a 1:35.629 as a switch to the intermediates dawned ever closer.

But the Monegasque still wasn’t finding conditions easy as he spun again, this time at Acque Minerali, fortunately escaping without damage. Meanwhile, Ocon became the second victim of the Rivazza gravel trap after going straight on at the entrance of the corner.

Sergio Perez was next to move to the front of the timesheets with a 1:35.476, over a tenth faster than Leclerc as the session approached the halfway mark.

Vettel’s switch to the intermediates saw him move up to fourth with a 1:36.131, whilst his teammate Lance Stroll’s switch to the intermediates saw the Canadian move up to eighth despite having a little trip through the Rivazza gravel trap. 

With the track rapidly drying out, Norris used his inters to vault up to second with a 1:35.502, just +0.026 behind Perez. 

Magnussen was next to be caught out at Rivazza as he once again failed to slow down in time for the corner, forcing him to make a trip through the gravel.

Sainz on the other hand, was relishing the drying conditions as he moved back to the front of the timesheets with a 1:33.716 before massively improving on his next run as he managed to break into the 1:32s with a 1:32.606.

Leclerc then went one better on his next run after banking a 1:32.512 that was just a tenth quicker than his teammate in spite of having a pair of hair raising moments at both Tamburello and Acque Minerali.

Not content with second fastest, Sainz hit back with a 1:30.803 that was over a second quicker than Leclerc and Verstappen’s best times. But he wouldn’t be at the top of the times for too long as Leclerc banked a 1:29.402 whilst Verstappen lost a chance to improve on his time after being blocked by an errant Latifi in the Rivazza. 

Verstappen did manage to improve on his next run, but he remained in third and crucially was over a second down on Leclerc.

Norris’s session was disrupted after he spun into the gravel at Acque Minerali, causing the red flag to be brought as Norris managed to reverse himself out of the gravel trap unscathed.

The same couldn’t be said for Bottas, as the 2020 polesitter managed a full 360 at the Acque Minerali, beaching the Alfa Romeo but crucially not inflicting any damage.

Away from the chaos, Leclerc finished FP1 in front of Sainz and Verstappen whilst Haas were 4-5th as Magnussen led Mick Schumacher by over a half-second. Perez finished the session sixth fastest ahead of Fernando Alonso and Vettel.

Yuki Tsunoda gave the locally based Alpha Tauri team reasons to be hopeful, with ninth fastest ahead of George Russell. He had a better session than his team leader Lewis Hamilton as he struggled with grip and subsequently finished the session a disappointing 18th fastest.