Bottas topped both Friday practice sessions at Imola for Mercedes ahead of his team-mate Hamilton, as main Formula 1 world titles Red Bull struggled at the Italian circuit.
In the first session Sergio Perez clashed with Esteban Ocon in a session hit by technical issues that impacted both TV coverage, radio and data communications, with the issue later put down to a failure of a local fibre optic line.
The issues mounted up for Red Bull in the second practice session when Max Verstappen suffered power loss due to a driveshaft issue with his F1 car, forcing him to miss the majority of the session, and led the Dutch driver to concede he goes into the weekend “a little bit” on the back foot against Mercedes.
With AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly impressing to take third place in FP2, a positive day for Ferrari was dampened late on by a crash for Charles Leclerc, but team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr was still able to take fourth place directly ahead of the Monegasque driver in fifth.
Life adapting to F1 continues to remain tricky for Nikita Mazepin, following a spin and a crash in FP1, with the Haas driver ending the day in last place and over half a second off team-mate Mick Schumacher.
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT02, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
What time does qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix start?
Qualifying for Emilia Romagna GP starts at 2pm local time (1pm BST), using the regular Q1, Q2 and Q3 knockout session format.
Both the final practice session and qualifying at Imola have been moved forward by one hour to avoid clashing with the Royal funeral service of Prince Philip.
The Duke of Edinburgh died at the age of 99 last Friday, with the British Royal funeral taking place in Windsor at 3pm on Saturday.
In line with multiple other sports, F1 and the FIA has confirmed the Emilia Romagna GP schedule has been altered “out of respect” to avoid running at the same time as the funeral.
Qualifying will now start at 2pm local time (1pm BST), with FP3 starting at 11am local time (10am BST) to comply with F1 regulations to provide a two-hour gap between the end of final practice and the start of qualifying.
Date: Saturday 17 April 2021
Start time: 2pm local time – 1pm BST
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR21
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
How can I watch qualifying?
In the United Kingdom every F1 practice, qualifying and race is broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, with qualifying coverage starting at 12pm BST.
Autosport will be running a live text coverage of qualifying here. [https://www.autosport.com/f1/live-text/f1-bahrain-gp-live-commentary-and-updates-fp3-and-qualifying/951898/]
When can I watch the highlights?
In the United Kingdom Channel 4 is broadcasting highlights of qualifying for the Emilia Romagna GP at 7:30pm BST on Saturday. The full programme will run for 90 minutes, covering both qualifying and wrapping up the major talking points of the race weekend so far.
For the entire 2021 F1 season, Channel 4 will broadcast highlights of every qualifying and race on the Saturday and Sunday of each event. The highlights will also be available on Channel 4’s on demand catch up services.
· Channel: Channel 4
· Start time: 7:30pm BST
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Will it be on the radio?
Live radio coverage of every practice, qualifying and race for the 2021 F1 season will be available on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC 5 Live Sports Extra or via the BBC Sport website.
Coverage of the Emilia Romagna GP qualifying will start at 1:00pm BST via the BBC Sport website.
What’s the weather forecast for qualifying at Imola?
Sunny and cloudy conditions are forecast for Saturday afternoon at Imola but it is expected to remain dry throughout. Temperatures are set to be 14 degrees Celsius at the start of qualifying – around 15 degrees cooler than qualifying for the Bahrain GP.
Emilia Romagna GP FP2 results
Emilia Romagna GP FP1 results
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