Practice sessions for the 2024 Emilia Romagna GP have ended. After an eventful FP3 session, there are still some unknowns to be resolved before an interesting qualifying session. But where do each team actually stand?
McLaren is a contender for pole position after strong performances both at the end of the final session and in Friday’s FP2. We were slightly behind Ferrari on qualifying pace yesterday, but we must also remember that we didn’t do well in sector three.
In today’s FP3 they set up a representative and competitive sector 3, better than Ferrari and Red Bull. And ideal laps so far this weekend – the best sectors recorded by each team during all FP sessions taken together equals Woking’s – home team as a benchmark to win in qualifying later today .
Ferrari still has a very close relationship with McLaren. The update is positive, as are the sentiments of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The SF24 EVO seems slightly more stable than his MCL38, but is slightly slower overall. If McLaren can put together a mistake-free lap, they should be able to outperform the Italians.
Question marks still remain for Red Bull. It was a disappointing Friday due to Sergio Perez’s accident, but he did not get the benchmark he had been looking for since yesterday. The Mexican incident is another sign that the problem is real, and while we cannot rule out the possibility that the Mexicans will have an advantage in qualifying, the numbers so far are not deceiving. Before qualifying, their best lap was enough to place them in 5th place.
On the other hand, Mercedes is showing signs of improvement. The Silver Arrows made some mistakes with the handling of their W15 in FP1, but this weekend they seem to have found the pace to at least take fourth place.
At the moment, they are ahead of Red Bull in terms of data as they wait for Max Verstappen and the RB20 to wake up.
Meanwhile, in the midfield, the RB team seems to be leading the pack, as we expected from the weekend preview. The Faenza team’s home track suits their cars well, while teams like Alpine and Haas struggle a little more.
Hiroki Tsunoda’s lap, which placed 3rd in FP2, was very important, and the team’s run plan today consisted of refining the details of the setup, rather than seeking pure performance like other competitors. It had been.
Aston Martin has facilitated Mercedes’ progress since Mercedes has been mostly absent since Miami. We have to wait for qualifying and above all for Sunday’s race, but at the moment the update package does not seem to be positive at all.
Fernando Alonso didn’t seem to be completely happy with the update, and his mishap in FP3 after losing the rear of his AMR24 at Rivazza confirmed his bad premonitions.
The team is currently racing against time to repair the rear axle on the Spaniard’s car so that they can aim for more than just qualifying in Q2.
