Verstappen has reinstated himself as the favourite at Imola while Norris stormed to an impressive 2nd place. Both Mercedes are expected to improve from their practice positions.
Battle at the front.
Red Bull were able to put yesterday out of their minds with a dominant performance from Verstappen. The Dutchman finished almost 0.5s ahead of his nearest rival, but Perez was not able to match his team-mate. The Mexican eventually climbed to 4th, almost 0.6s adrift.
Mercedes could not replicate their supreme performance from yesterday. Hamilton finished 3rd while Bottas could only manage 8th. However, neither driver seemed uncomfortable and it is clear there is still more to gain from the car.
Meanwhile, there were mixed fortunes at McLaren. Norris was able to storm to an impressive 2nd placed finish, radically improving on his results from yesterday. However, Ricciardo could only manage 13th, 0.7s off him team-mate and 1.2s off of the overall pace.
Midfield Pack
As per usual, the midfield was incredibly tight, McLaren drew first blood by breaking into 2nd, but must still be considered part of this pack. Leclerc and Sainz again showed tremendous conistency with a strong 5th and 7th placed finish. This time it was Leclerc who won the team-mate battle.
Yet again, Gasly impressed, running highest of the midfield for the majority of the session. He finished a very respectable 6th while Tsunoda came 11th, struggling with traffic issues.
Alpine showed some much desired consistency and occupied the final two spaces in the top 10. Alonso was finally able to get a handle on his car and managed to finish infront of Ocon by 0.042s.
Aston Martin continued to struggle with both cars finishing rather underwhemingly. Stroll again outoperformed Vettel, finishing 12th while the 4-time champion finished 14th.
Bringing up the rear
Russell managed to get the measure of team-mate Latifi this time, finishing a decent 15th, only 1.4s off the pace. Latifi was only 0.1s behind, in 17th.
Both Alfa Romeos had numerous off track excursions and they slumped to 18th and 19th, with Giovinazzi winning out.
There were improvements from Haas with both cars looking much more stable today. Schumacher climbed to 16th while Mazepin remained 20th.
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