Piastri pips Norris, Verstappen frustrated, in closely-fought first Imola practice

​​​​​​World championship leader Oscar Piastri narrowly set the pace from McLaren team-mate Lando Norris in a competitive Practice One as the grid's big teams all revealed upgrades to their cars at the Emilia Romagna GP.

With historic Imola representing the first European round of the 2025 season - and the first of three grands prix in as many weeks to kick-off a crucial period of the season - this race weekend has long been identified as the one where teams were always likely to bring their first significant update packages of the campaign.

And it was title leaders McLaren who took early honours on the timesheet courtesy of Piastri and Norris, although just 0.096s separated a top five which featured three other teams.

• Emilia Romagna GP: Schedule and how to watch on Sky
• F1 2025 schedule | F1 championship standings
• Got Sky? Watch F1 races LIVE on your phone! 📱
• Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW 📺
• Choose the sports notifications you want! 🔔

Piastri set the pace on a 1:16.545 to finish just 0.032s ahead of Norris. But Williams' Carlos Sainz, Mercedes' George Russell and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton all wound up within a tenth of a second of Piastri's benchmark too.

Max Verstappen, though, was only seventh and 0.3s back and was heard over Red Bull team radio complaining about the car's rear end. The Dutchman even briefly banged his steering wheel in apparent frustration at one point late in the session.

Red Bull have introduced changes to the car's engine cover and sidepods for this weekend.

The session was red flagged with two minutes to go when Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto spun and hit the barriers midway through the two Rivazza corners.

More to follow…

Sky Sports F1's Emilia Romagna GP Schedule

Friday May 16
2pm: F3 Qualifying
2.55pm: F2 Qualifying
3:40pm: Emilia Romagna GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5.15pm: The F1 Show

Saturday May 17
9am: F3 Sprint
11:15am: Emilia Romagna GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.10pm: Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: EMILIA ROMAGNA GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Sunday May 18
7.25am: F3 Feature Race
8.55am: F2 Feature Race
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Emilia Romagna GP build-up
2pm: The EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Emilia Romagna GP reaction
5pm: Ted's Notebook

*Also live on Sky Sports Main Event

F1's European season begins with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime