Sat May 17 13:10:00 UTC 2025: **McLaren Dominates Final Practice at Imola Ahead of Qualifying**

**Imola, Italy -** McLaren emerged as the team to beat in final practice for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, with Lando Norris topping the timesheets ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri. The session, held at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, saw Norris set a time of 1m 14.897s, just a tenth of a second faster than Piastri.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who described Friday as ‘tough’ for his team, was third fastest, managing to be the only non-McLaren within two-tenths of the leaders. Mercedes struggled, with George Russell complaining about the car’s handling. Lewis Hamilton, who has been struggling with braking issues throughout the weekend, finished in 10th place.

There was a close call in the pit lane between Isack Hadjar and Carlos Sainz, with Hadjar later apologising. Several drivers, including Verstappen and Piastri, made mistakes during their soft-tyre runs.

In F3 news, Tramnitz led an MP Motorsport 1-2 in the Imola Sprint Race.

The teams will now analyze the data from the final practice session before returning to the track for qualifying, scheduled for 4:00 PM local time. The results of the session suggest that McLaren could be a serious threat to Red Bull’s dominance this weekend.

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