Not Red Bull but this top team rises as McLaren's challenger at Imola!

For Red Bull Racing, the expectation was that they would - at least somewhat - would bridge th gap to McLaren with the upgrades they brought to Imola for the RB21. However, even chief advisor for Red Bull Dr. Helmut Marko, believes the update package is not working as the team hoped it would.

During the FP2 long runs, Max Verstappen failed to go under the 1:20's, with his quickest lap time being a 1:20.244. His pace ranged between the 1:20.9's and the 1:20.2's. A very big gap, seven tenths, for a driver as precise as the Dutchman.

He did complain of balance issues throughout both sessions which would explain the large gap in between his best and worst long run laps - save for the outlier of 1:21.7 - and the inconsistency in his pace. On the bright side, Verstappen's teammate Yuki Tsunoda is on average a little over a tenth from the Dutchman.

As for Mercedes, George Russell is, surprisingly, the slower of the two Mercedes in race trim, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli being decisively quicker by an average of over three tenths.

The young Italian was able to run in the 1:20.0's for at least two laps, and he never went above the 1:20.5's, averaging a 1:20.2 across his seven laps.

For Russell, though, the picture is less bright with the Briton clocking in a 1:20.281 as his quickest lap, over two tenths slower then Antonelli's, and his times growing by three tenths in the last four laps suggest that the Mercedes team lead's tyres were going away from him.

As for Ferrari, whilst Charles Leclerc emerged as the quicker driver, teammate Lewis Hamilton was only a tenth - exactly - adrift from the Monegasque's average long runs' time.

Leclerc incursioned under the 1:20's twice with a 1:19.6 - his best lap - and a 1:19.9. Whereas Hamilton only matched that feat once with a 1:19.7.

Whilst Leclerc's pace was the most consistent of the two, both drivers were able to run quicker on their last lap than they did on their first lap on full fuel tanks. However, Imola is notorious for being low tyre degradation track, so this information needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

McLaren are indeed ahead of Ferrari, but not by much. Leclerc's average lap time during his long run was 1:20.091, with Hamilton's exactly a tenth off of that.

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were only able to pip Ferrari's quickest man by a little over a tenth (1:19.976) and a little under (1:19.998.) Nevertheless their pace is ominous.

Piastri was able to run consistently within the 1:19's, setting his quickest lap of the entire long run with a 1:19.6.

His pace then dropped off slightly to a 1:20.4, his slowest time, before speeding up to a 1:20.1 for two laps and closing his long run with a 1:19.7.

On the other hand Norris was not as quick as his teammate, being unable to go under the 1:19.787, a tenth and a half slower than Piastri's fastest lap.