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George Russell was perhaps the surprise pacesetter in second practice for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday morning as the teams used the dry conditions at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team endured a tough Friday at Imola, with both Russell and team-mate Lewis Hamilton failing to get into Q3 during Qualifying, the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix of 2012 that the team failed to get a single driver into the top ten shootout.

But the W13 appeared to be a much better car in the longer runs, with Russell taking the top spot with a time of 1:19.457, 0.081 seconds ahead of Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez.

However, Pérez’s best time was set on the medium Pirelli compound compared to the soft run of Russell, meaning Mercedes might not be as strong as they appeared to be during the session.

Charles Leclerc, who will start on the front row for Saturday’s Sprint race. was third quickest for Scuderia Ferrari in front of their beloved Tifosi, while Hamilton was fourth in the second Mercedes, ahead of the leading BWT Alpine F1 Team driver, Fernando Alonso.

For the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix of 2012, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team failed to get a car into Q3 in Qualifying, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton ending eleventh and thirteenth on Friday at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

The changeable weather conditions at Imola did not work in the teams’ favour, and they were well off the pace when it mattered, with Hamilton lucky even to make it into Q2, scrapping through by just 0.004 seconds ahead of Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Hamilton admitted they came to the circuit with optimism, but that optimism soon disappeared as the pace of the W13 was not strong enough to break into the top ten, the seven-time World Champion ultimately ending up only thirteenth on the grid.

“Today wasn’t a great session and naturally it’s disappointing,” said Hamilton. “We came here with optimism, everyone is working so hard at the factory but things just didn’t come together.

“I think we underperformed as a team today. We’ll work as hard as we can to move up in the Sprint Race. It’s going to be a difficult race but who knows?

Franco Colapinto took his, and Van Amersfoort Racing‘s first win since moving up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in the Sprint Race at Imola on Saturday.

He started on pole, ahead of Jenzer Motorsport‘s Ido Cohen and Kush Maini (MP Motorsport), but that doesn’t begin to explain his route to the top step.

Colapinto covered off Cohen into the Tamburello chicane, allowing Maini and Caio Collet past the Israeli driver.

Championship leader Victor Martins ended the first lap in fourth place, just before Oliver Bearman ran wide halfway through Tamburello on Lap 2.

Zak O’Sullivan looked up the inside of Cohen at the same corner a lap later, Tamburello quickly proving the best overtaking opportunity even before DRS was enabled.

This weekend at Donington Park the Porsche Carrera Cup GB gets underway for its twentieth season with a grid of twenty-five drivers lining up from eight teams.

It’s been a busy pre-season as teams and drivers get use to the latest generation of 911 racing car – the 510 hp ‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup. Following a successful launch last year in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and a number of regional Carrera Cup series the new iteration of the 911 will make its racing debut this weekend on British soil.

The new season also brings a new Porsche GB Junior for the 2022/23 seasons; Following a highly competitive evaluation programme of four finalists at the end of the season, it was 2021 Ginetta GT4 Supercup champion Adam Smalley who came out on top to win the prize of £85,000 per year towards his racing and support from Porsche through the two years. Former Junior Harry King makes the full-time step up to Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup this season with Lechner Racing.

Pro class ready for new champion in 2022

Dan Cammish heads back to BTCC for 2022 after taking his third Carrera Cup GB title last year and 2021 champion King is off to Supercup, so for 2022 the series is guaranteed a brand new champion.

The category features ten drivers for the new season with familiar names returning to the grid, including 2021 Rookie Champion Kiern Jewiss who took four victories last season and will have his sights firmly set on the title this year with Team Parker Racing.

Alan Permane, the Sporting director of BWT Alpine F1 Team, has branded the team’s Saturday afternoon as “bittersweet” after Fernando Alonso finished Friday’s qualifying session in fifth place, while team-mate Esteban Ocon suffered a gearbox failure in Qualifying One.

Ocon was forced to pit when conditions were at their best in Q1, although Alonso fought through to Q3 to qualify on the third row, despite an off-track moment at Acqua Minerali when he touched a white line on entry.

Permane believes there is still plenty to play for this weekend for both drivers, and he expects Ocon to fight back through the field and Alonso to contend for points with a car that is looking strong at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

“We’re left with a bittersweet feeling after tonight’s Qualifying as, unfortunately, the team faced mixed fortunes on either side of the garage,” said Permane. “Esteban’s car had a gearbox failure in Q1 and we’ll fully investigate how that occurred.

“As we saw with Fernando, the car had strong pace today, so it’s disappointing that Esteban was not able to show his true potential, especially in conditions where we’ve seen him shine in the past. On Fernando’s side it was a relatively straightforward session. The car had good pace in both the wet and dry and Fernando was happy with the car’s balance across all conditions. He will start in fifth tomorrow on the clean side of the grid and that’s a very good place to begin the Sprint.“

Fernando Alonso was able to place his BWT Alpine F1 Team car in fifth place for Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying session at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Friday afternoon.

The Spaniard has labelled the session as “messy” after many drivers made mistakes in the slippery conditions, with Alonso making a mistake at Acque Minerali when conditions were at their trickiest.

“It feels good to be in the top five after a messy qualifying with all of the changing conditions and red flags,” the two-time world champion says.

“With the wet weather changing the track all the time, anything can happen, so overall I’m pleased to be in the top five for tomorrow.

“The car felt fast in the last two rounds and I feel quite comfortable with the car here. Let’s see how we do tomorrow as there are points on offer in the Sprint and for the race on Sunday.”

Kalle Rovanpera tops the leaderboard for day one after finishing fastest above Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak. The young Finn Rovenpera would prove he could right his wrongs this year in Croatia by getting off to a hot start. Rovenpera won three of the four stages in the morning loop but the tricky and changing conditions wouldn’t make it easy.

Teammate Elfyn Evans would see some of those conditions bring him some trouble after getting two punctures during the morning loop. With deflated tires, Evans fell back to sixth even though he held the fastest time on stage three. Even though his speed was excellent for the one-stage his luck wouldn’t improve on the day as he sits sixth overnight.

Unfortunately, Esapekka Lappi’s day came to an abrupt end when the driver made contact with rocks on the side of the road forcing him to retire for the day and restart with repairs tomorrow.

Repairs were required for the overnight second-place driver, Thierry Neuville, as the driver had a good start to the day until some alternator problems. Neuville had been following Rovenpera closely all day until an alternator issue disabled the car on a road section resulting in the Belgian pair pushing the car back to a late service arrival. While this setback resulted in a 40s time penalty, Neuville battled back in the final afternoon loop by winning a stage and keeping his pace up to hold on to second going into day 2.

Both Hyundai teammates, Ott Tanak and Oliver Solberg managed a relatively clean race day as the former finished third on the day and the latter finished fifth. Solberg would catch damage after aquaplaning slowing his pace a bit but enough to hold on to that number five spot.

Zane Maloney took pole position for the FIA Formula 3 Feature Race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Friday.

Track conditions improved throughout the day after a sodden Practice session, with Maloney taking his first F3 pole at only the second time of asking with a 1:41.180s at the end of the session.

That time came after the red flag caused by Enzo Trulli and Arthur Leclec tripping over each other at Rivazza, Maloney improving on Isack Hadjar and Gregoire Saucy‘s times on a drying track.

Roman Stanek will line up second on Sunday, ahead of Jak Crawford, Saucy, Oliver Bearman and Victor Martins.

Hadjar will lead Zak O’Sullivan, Caio Collet and Kush Maini to round out the top ten.

FIA Formula 3 Championship Qualifying Result – Imola

Several drivers failed to set times at a soaking wet Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Friday, but Victor Martins set the quickest after just five tours of the Imola circuit.

Most of the field headed out early, with times eventually spread over five seconds apart.

Ido Cohen and Kaylen Frederick exchanged top spot before BWT Alpine F1 Team junior Martins set a time which would not be beaten.

The session was punctuated by red flags for off-track excursions into the gravel traps and walls lining the circuit.

The local Ferrari Driver Academy prospects of Arthur Leclerc and Oliver Bearman (both Prema Racing) found themselves in the lower reaches of the timesheet, with Leclerc finishing over 11 seconds off Martins’ pace.

Charles Leclerc missed out on pole position in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but almost eight-tenths of a second to title rival Max Verstappen, but the Monegasque racer says he cannot be unhappy with the position on what was a tricky day for all amid changeable weather conditions at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver had been on top after the first runs in Q3 but lost out to the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver despite both drivers having to go through a yellow flag zone after Valtteri Bottas stopped at the side of the track.

Leclerc aborted one lap in Q3 and was set to go again when red flags flew again, meaning he was unable to take the battle to Verstappen for pole.  However, he feels he does have the pace in the F1-75 to fight for the Sprint race win on Saturday.

“Qualifying didn’t end exactly as I wanted it to, but starting the race from P2 isn’t too bad,” said Leclerc.  “It was a tricky one. Q1 and Q2 were all about making it through to Q3 – and then pushing hard.

“I did one strong lap in the last session, then decided to abort my second lap to save the tyres for my last two runs at the end of Q3. Unfortunately, that never happened because of the red flags.

Max Verstappen took his first pole position of the season on Friday, with the Dutchman surviving a yellow flag during his best lap to snatch top spot away from title rival Charles Leclerc.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver was forced to lift off the throttle through the yellow flag zone after Valtteri Bottas was forced to stop at the side of the road, but despite the lift, his lap time was still good enough to take pole position.

Verstappen said it was important to not make mistakes on a day of changeable weather conditions at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, and it was pleasing to end the day in top spot for Saturday’s Sprint race.

“It was good out there today but also very easy to make mistakes, so luckily we mainly stayed out of trouble,” said Verstappen.  “We started on the slicks initially and then it started raining again, making the right call on how you wanted to prep your laps was key today and ultimately we chose the right one, so I’m of course very pleased with that.

“When I saw the yellow flags for Valtteri I immediately lifted so there won’t be any trouble there, it does cost you lap time but luckily the lap was still good enough for pole.”

Bill Elliott wants another go at the Superstar Racing Experience, even if it won’t be for the championship. On Friday, SRX announced Elliott will run the 2022 season opener at Five Flags Speedway on 18 June and the Stafford Motor Speedway event on 2 July.

“I can’t wait to climb back into my SRX car and compete against the class of guys in this series,” said Elliott.

Elliott contested the full 2021 season, but his campaign was marred by multiple misfortunes as he placed in the bottom two across the first four races. He finally found life in the finale at the Nashville Fairgrounds as he won his heat race, led the most laps, and joined his son Chase on the podium by finishing third. He ended the season ninth in points, avoiding a last-place finish among the ten full-timers.

Prior to the 2021 SRX season, the 1988 NASCAR Cup Series champion had not run a full slate in any racing division since retiring from weekly Cup competition after the 2003 season. While he has mainly focused on supporting Chase’s own career in the two decades since, he has occasionally returned to the driver’s seat, including making a NASCAR Xfinity Series road course start in 2018.

Alongside his title, he has forty-four career Cup victories and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.

Jüri Vips took the first Pole Position of his FIA Formula 2 career on a wet and soggy evening at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, beating DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa by a tenth of a second.

The afternoon practice session was disrupted by rain and saw Ralph Boschung at the top of timing sheets at the checkered flag and it was the Swiss driver who was first to set a competitive time.

He was then toppled by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes before the Estonian driver, Vips, moved to the top.

Before the drivers could head out for their final few push laps in their attempt at Sunday’s Feature Race Pole, Olli Caldwell found himself spinning off the track in Sector 1 which brought out the first and only red flag of the Qualifying session.

Boschung found even more time once the drivers were allowed back on track, a time that was beaten by Vips with a few minutes remaining in the session. His time of 1:40.221 would end up being the fastest time of the day.

Practice for the opening round of the 2022 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari has been postponed due to heavy rain and delays from the FIA Formula 1 World Championship qualifying session.

With rain disrupting the opening day of the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the practice session for the Porsche Supercup was due to follow the Formula 1 qualifying session.

Unfortunately due to five reg flags throughout that session the Porsche practice was pushed further back into the evening, ultimately it was a mixture of that and heavy rain that would lead the race organisers to postpone the session until Saturday morning.

The rescheduled session is due to take place from 9:15-10am CEST.

Read our preview of the 30th Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season here.

Guenther Steiner says Friday at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari was just the pick-me-up that the Haas F1 Team needed on the back of their underwhelming Australian Grand Prix, with Kevin Magnussen securing the team’s best ever Qualifying result.

Magnussen survived an off-track moment during the early minutes of Q3 that saw him spin off track at turn twelve to cause a red flag, but he was able to keep the car going and return to the pits before Qualifying an excellent fourth, behind only Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

Team-mate Mick Schumacher was unable to make it into Q3, the German still waiting for his first top ten appearance of his Formula 1 career after a mistake on what turned out to be his one and only attempt in Q2 left him only twelfth.

Steiner, the Team Principal at Haas, admitted the changeable weather conditions at Imola made for a difficult Qualifying session for everyone, but from fourth and twelfth on the grid, the team can be happy with their days work, and it gives them optimism of a decent weekend to come.

“A very good day today,” said Steiner. “They were very challenging weather conditions and I know that is the same for everyone but after Australia we really needed this, and we bounced back.