By Melody Gross 
McLaren was able to put its drivers at the top of the timesheets in the third and final free practice session for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, in a session marked by two interruptions due to incidents between Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez. Oscar Piastri was fastest with a time of 1:15.529 seconds, while Lando Norris was 0.300 seconds behind his colleague.
Carlos Sainz came in third place with a time of 0.538 seconds, but the Ferrari drivers had not finished the qualifying simulation at the end of practice, when Perez's accident occurred.
Red Bull appears to be keeping the difficulties from Friday at bay, despite having long run with medium tires fitted to the RB20s of Max Verstappen and the Mexican driver.
There are still many doubts after the final free training session. Will Red Bull be able to join the battle for pole and what is the real pace of the RB20 on soft tyres? Will Red Bull, and primarily Aston Martin, be able to get the repaired single-seater back for Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso in time for qualifying, at 3pm (local Portuguese time)?
Lando Norris, Lance Stroll and Oscar Piastri were the first drivers out on the track in the final free practice session for the Emilia Romagna GP, but after the installation lap they returned to the pits, while Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc took the necessary measures, even in the early stages of the session, which is abnormal in Free Practice 3.
Both Red Bull drivers had medium tires fitted to the RB20, while Charles Leclerc used soft tires on the SF24.
Pérez continued to top the timesheets with a time of 1:17.682 seconds, but Carlos Sainz took the lead with a time of 1:17.444 seconds on the soft tires fitted to his single-seater. Verstappen moved up to second place with a time of 1:16.471 seconds on the medium tyres, later improving his record (to 1:16.366 seconds).
Later, Sainz imposed himself again on the track, recording a time of 1:16.067 seconds, while Leclerc moved up to second place with a time of 1:16.087 seconds.
However, Fernando Alonso lost control of the rear of his Aston Martin AMR24 and collided with Imola track marshals at the second Rivazza corner.Which forced the suspension of training to remove the single seat. It could be seen that the Spaniard awkwardly lost control of the back of the car when entering the second part of Rivazza, and with the short gravel box, he immediately collided with the circuit protection.
As the session began again, and in the second half of practice, the two Red Bull drivers kept the medium tires fitted to the RB20 running good times, compared to the soft tires used by Sainz, Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, who was third quickest with 20 minutes remaining in the session. , they used it in their fast rolls.
Just like yesterday with Lando Norris, Piastri wasted a good opportunity to improve his record, when he ran through the gravel at the end of the final corner, at the same time he was performing well, with less than 20 minutes remaining. times in previous sectors.
Even before the final 15 minutes of practice, the two single-seater RBs held positions in the top ten. Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh, 0.601 seconds behind Sainz's time, and Daniel Ricciardo finished tenth, 0.994 seconds behind, both of whom used medium tires on their cars. Behind the Australian, Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen and Alexander Albon were separated by 0.012 seconds, until the Thai claimed the sixth-best lap time (1:16.470 seconds), 0.403 seconds off the Spaniard's Ferrari driver's time, on Williams-mounted soft tires.
As they entered practice for the final 10 minutes, the drivers set up their fast laps, making several changes to the timetable. Oscar Piastri stood out again with a time of 1:15.529 seconds. When waiting to see what the drivers behind the Australian McLaren can do, Sergio Perez continued his lead on the Variant Alta, crashing into the Italian track protection.
With less than 6 minutes of training and having to interrupt the session to remove the RB20 from the site, it was expected that the training would end prematurely. However, race management allowed the cars to enter again after just over two minutes of practice.
With some confusion to cross the finish line before the checkered flag, Lando Norris was the only driver to improve his time, moving up to second on the timesheets, 0.300 seconds behind his team-mate, and the McLaren finished 1-2 at the end of practice. .
