Oscar Piastri beat team-mate Lando Norris by just over two hundredths of a second in FP2 as McLaren wrapped up a posted a perfect Friday with its cars quickest in both practice sessions. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly impressed with third place, but the red flags came out late in the session when Isack Hadjar beached his Racing Bulls car in the Imola gravel traps. 

Piastri has topped Fp1 ahead of Norris, but it was the latter who kicked things off in FP2 with the British driver taking an early P1 with a lap of 1:16.074 set on C5 Medium Pirelli tyres. However, that was soon beaten by Williams’ Carlos Sainz. The Spanish driver, who had finished third in the morning, used the same Medium compound as Norris to set his time. 

With a third of the session gone, the field began to make the switch to the Soft C6 tyres and Mercedes’ George Russell then led the way with a lap of 1:15.693.

Piastri then posted 1:15.293s to significantly lower the benchmark with Norris slotting in behind the Australian, just 0.025s adrift. Norris, who had set his fastest time of the morning with the second of a two-lap burst, went for another attempt, but despite going quickest in the middle sector he couldn’t dislodge Piastri from top spot. 

Gasly took a somewhat surprising third place, though the French driver had already given Alpine hope of a strong weekend with sixth in the earlier session. Russell’s soft tyre flyer left him fourth ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who looked more comfortable in his RB21 than in FP1 when he was hampered by balance problems. However, the defending world champion ended the session 0.442s off Piastri. 

Charles Leclerc was sixth for Ferrari, while Hadjar finished seventh for Racing Bulls. The French driver’s good performance was overshadowed by a late off, however. With eight minutes left on the clock, Hadjar lost control on exit from the Tamburello chicane, and he spun off into the barriers. Damage appeared minimal, and he managed to limp his VCARB02 to the lip of the gravel trap. But stopping to allow traffic past, he sunk into the gravel and ended up beached. The red flags came out to allow for his care to be recovered. The session did resume but only with enough time to allow teams to conduct the customary practice starts.

Yuki Tsunoda finished in P8 for Red Bull, just a tenth of a second behind team-mate Verstappen, while Sainz eventually finished ninth ahead of team-mate Alex Albon. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Haas’ Oliver Bearman. On his F1 return with Alpine, Argentina's Franco Colapinto finished Friday in 13th place.

2025 FIA Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:15.293 28 234.715
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:15.318 0.025 25 234.637
3 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:15.569 0.276 29 233.857
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:15.693 0.400 23 233.474
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:15.735 0.442 26 233.345
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.768 0.475 28 233.243
7 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:15.792 0.499 22 233.169
8 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:15.827 0.534 29 233.062
9 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:15.916 0.623 29 232.788
10 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:15.934 0.641 29 232.733
11 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:15.943 0.650 26 232.706
12 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:16.009 0.716 26 232.504
13 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:16.044 0.751 29 232.397
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.220 0.927 21 231.860
15 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:16.255 0.962 22 231.753
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:16.339 1.046 27 231.498
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.341 1.048 23 231.492
18 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:16.406 1.113 27 231.29
19 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:16.419 1.126 26 231.256
20 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:16.420 1.127 24 231.253