F1 LIVE - All the action from the third free practice session in Imola

The second day of the Grand Prix weekend at the Imola circuit is about to begin and will provide more clarity on the current balance of power between Red Bull and Mercedes. We kick off with the third and final free practice session at the Italian circuit.

FP3 Liveblog

The battle for pole

From this year on, all practice sessions will last only one hour, instead of the usual 90 minutes. Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in the two sessions on Friday, with a small lead over teammate Lewis Hamilton after the second session.

The second practice session at Imola was less successful for Max Verstappen. A technical issue forced the Dutchman to retire the RB16B, costing the team valuable time on track.

Saturday will clarify, during both the final free practice and qualifying sessions, which team has made the most of the last three weeks without a Grand Prix. Will Mercedes be able to make up the pace difference on Red Bull, or will the team of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have another dominant weekend and take Max Verstappen to pole position? 

Midfield battle

Behind Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, a battle for third place is developing well. The two front-runners in Bahrain were McLaren and Ferrari, though it's expected that AlphaTauri might be able to challenge those two teams more. 

McLaren and Ferrari had many battles at Imola when this race was known as the San Marino Grand Prix. Will Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo be renewing the rivalry this season with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz? Everything will become clearer this weekend! 

So far this weekend, Ferrari seem to have the upper hand over McLaren, with AlphaTauri also in the mix.