F1 Imola GP live commentary and updates - FP3

That's it from us for now. We'll be back later for a qualifying session which is likely to be electric - so many drivers have made mistakes when pushing during this session...

Well, this teases up some fascinating possibilities for qualifying and the race. The new soft C6 compound hasn't appeared to deliver the expected performance bump relative to the C5, which is the medium choice here. And this weekend, as we have revealed, will be critical to Pirelli's plan to spice up the racing by leaving 'gaps' between compounds.

Pirelli soft and medium tyres

Photo by: Erik Junius

"Zero grip" harrumphs Tsunoda as he crosses the line. Still P17. Verstappen finds 1m15.078s on his used softs. Still P3.

Verstappen out for another squeeze of the soft grape; so too is teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who is currently P17.

Hamilton kicks up dust at the exit of the Rivazza and doesn't improve. Still P10 on 1m15.787. Piastri, on another hot lap, goes through the dust cloud... better, 1m14.997s, but 0.100s off teammate Norris.

Speaking of Norris, his second go at a push lap wasn't clean at all - replays indicate him understeering off at the entrance to the Tamburello and bouncing through the gravel.

There are also plenty of slips going on around the track. Piastri has had another scruffy lap and gone back to the pits. That's unsual for him. Only Norris and Antonelli have had clean laps so far on the soft.

Lots of drivers complaining about a lack of pace on the softs. Interestingly, Pirelli dropped the minimum tyre pressure overnight - normally it would go the other way if it thought wear or degradation was an issue, so perhaps it's trying to find performance.

Russell trying again, but he gets the Tamburello wrong so the first sector is no improvement on his previous best. Ditto the second and third sector. He's still P7 - no, strike that from the record! Teammate Kimi Antonelli bangs in a 1m15.399s to go P4, displacing Sainz, Hadjar and Leclerc.

Piastri P3 with a 1m15.273s, 0.376s down on his teammate. Verstappen still P2.

Norris goes top with 1m14.897s.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Ocon and Colapinto also out and hustling on softs now. This, let us remind you, is the new C6 compound which was originally intended to be street-circuit only.

Hadjar, Leclerc, Albon, Tsunoda, Bearman, Bortoleto, Alonso, Hulkenberg and Gasly also now out on softs.

Norris now out on softs. Albon and Piastri too. In fact, Piastri has just aborted a flying lap after making a mistake. As has Max Verstappen! Looks like it snapped at him after setting a purple first sector.

Ah, after setting two personal-best sectors, Russell gets a little wide at the exit of the Variante Alta, runs over the gravel, and aborts the lap. Replay shows the Merc snapped sideways on him as he turned into the right-hand flick at the start of that chicane.

Nearly a shunt at the pit exit as Isack Hadjar tries to do a practice start and doesn't see Carlos Sainz's Williams rumbling down the pitlane towards him until the last moment.

Quali sims look to be kicking off now - Russell out on softs. 1m15.662 to improve on.

Only five drivers into double figures in terms of laps completed so far: Hadjar (10 and in the pits), Leclerc (13 and counting), Hamilton (13 and counting), Lawson (11 and counting, now back out on mediums), and Stroll (10).

Only one car on track on soft Pirellis right now and that's Pierre Gasly. His earlier time has now been surpassed and he's lying P15... hmm, interesting, he has returned to the pits after three laps.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was only P15 on his previous run, and clocks a 1m16325s which is an improvement but only enough to put him P13 for now. For comparison purposes teammate George Russell has just improved to P5 with a 1m15.662.

Liam Lawson limping back onto the track after what looked like a huge moment at the Tamburello. Gravel adhering to his tyres and ugly-looking flat spots. Replay shows the Racing Bulls car swapped ends on him under power at the exit, a huge gyration which explains those lurid flat spots.

Russell now P10 as the Williams pairing comes out and go P7 (Carlos Sainz) and P8 (Alex Albon), both on mediums.

George Russell out on new mediums. His lap of 1m16.124s puts him P8 for now. He's on the radio complaining about bouncing.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Norris purple in sector two on a push lap - also out on scrubbed mediums - but it's only good for P2. 0.139s off Max's best.

Verstappen back out on a different set of mediums - used ones by the look of the data screen - and purple in the first two sectors. Make that purple in all three sectors as he goes top again, 1m15.130s.

Hadjar's lap shaded the 1m15.529s that Leclerc had just set to briefly go top.

Hadjar going quickly, four laps into a stint on mediums and he's just set a purple first sector. Green in the next two but he goes to the top of the timesheet anyway - 1m15.508s. Early days yet, of course, since we haven't seen serious movement with the softs just yet.

Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

We're starting to drill down towards representative lap times as Max Verstappen goes top with 1m15.579s on mediums; Piastri is 0.254s down on him with a 1m15.833s, also on mediums. Then medium-shod Lando Norris splits them, just 0.077s off Max.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Gasly has returned to the garage after three laps, and now Oliver Bearman has gone out in the Haas and posted a lap 0.355s off Hamilton's. But the Haas is on softs...

Lawson improves with a 1m16.678 to go third fastest so far, quicker than Gasly's earlier run. Leclerc, Hadjar, Alonso, Norris, Stroll, Piastri, Verstappen and Tsunoda now out on track.

Alpine's Pierra Gasly briefly tops the board with a 1m26.679s on softs but then Hamilton puts in a 1m15.866 - he continues to circulate on mediums, six laps into this stint now.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Lars Baron / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Hamilton's 1m16.983 remains the fastest lap so far, set on medium tyres, but it's very early days yet. Vexatious brake problems for both Ferraris yesterday as Hamilton and Charles Leclerc complained about lack of feel and effectiveness.

Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson have come out and set timed laps. Franco and Gabriel bailed after two on softs, Lawson is still out on mediums.

10 minutes in and only two cars have set a time so far - Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton. Interestingly, Lando Norris went out and did one lap (on hard-compound tyres) with flo-viz paint, then returned to the garage for a rear-wing change. Most likely scenario is evaluating a different downforce level for another venue.

This could be the last grand prix at Imola and many F1 veterans have been reflecting on what the track means to them. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says it triggers memories of something which inspires him to this very day – Michael Schumacher's 12 wins in 13 races at the beginning of the 2004 season.

It was at Imola in winter testing where Ferrari realised how unexpectedly quick the new F2004 was. Stella was Schumacher's performance engineer at the time. 

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Speaking of Franco, there's been massive anticipation in LatAm for his return to the cockpit. There's even an Argentinian food truck which our trackside team passed on their way in. If that queue gets any longer there might be some - ahem - argy-bargy...

Franco Colapinto has been getting into the spirit of things, seen here throwing caps into the crowd. Don't ask me to do that - I've been told I'm a terrible tosser...

Franco Colapinto, Alpine

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Always a tricky circuit, Imola is particularly tough with the present generation of heavy, ground-effect F1 cars which don't really like to hop kerbs. But is it as difficult as having to do facile nonsense for the entertainment of TV viewers? We'll be sure to ask Yuki Tsunoda...

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

WELCOME TO SATURDAY

...and live text coverage of FP3 at Imola for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The sun is shining on Italy's bread basket today. Will it continue to shine on Oscar Piastri, fastest in both practice sessions yesterday?

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images