Alright y’all it’s RACE WEEK at the Imola Circuit in Italy, finally being given the honor of being the Italian (rather than the San Marino or Emilia Romagne) Grand Prix!
The first two Free Practice sessions are already over, and for once Valtteri Bottas has gone faster than his teammate, Lewis Hamilton (the reigning GOAT). After the Mercedes cars, we’ve got Gasly of Alpha Tauri proving he deserves a better team, Carlos Sainz leading teammate Charles LeClerc at Ferrari, Sergio Perez puts Red Bull 6th fastest since Max Verstappen had technical issues, Yuki Tsunoda of Alpha Tauri comes 7th fastest- he’s an interesting rookie- and the top 10 of FP2 is rounded out by McClaren’s Lando Norris, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
The only things of note farther down the list are Verstappen’s 14th- again, technical issues- and Daniel Ricciardo’s 18th! I’m sure there’s a story there.