Leclerc set the session’s best time – a 1m16.990s – aboard the updated Ferrari shortly after the one-hour FP1 action was stopped by Alex Albon’s Williams shutting down after he hit a kerb hard and ran down the Imola track from Piratella to Acque Minerali, where he stopped on the inside.
Leclerc’s time was set with a second set of soft tyres and pipped Mercedes’ George Russell by 0.104s – the Briton in contention for the leading time even during the early running on harder tyres.
