Round-up: Sainz concerned over soft tyre pace, Penske on IndyCar engines and more

Welcome to Saturday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.

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Top 10 pace on Friday in Imola (Williams)

Carlos Sainz Jnr: ‘In FP1 on soft tyres we were quick, but in FP2 we need to understand why we didn’t extract the maximum out of that tyre. On mediums however, the balance felt very good, so we need to work to understand the C6 and get ready for qualifying.’

First day of on-track action complete in Imola (Mercedes)

Andrea Kimi Antonelli: ‘I struggled to put everything together on my single laps today. There were some mistakes on my side and the low grip conditions did not make it ideal to get the C6 compound performing. On the other side, I felt good on the long runs with the car providing a good overall balance.’

Practice recap (Haas)

‘It was a tough Friday, there’s a lot we need to figure out. Today we struggled a lot with the front end of the car. We spotted a few things, so we need to go over the data tonight but clearly there’s something not quite right, so we need to get on top of that tomorrow.’

Roger Penske one-on-one: Palou’s dominance, new car coming, Power’s future (Fox)

‘Do you have confidence that Chevrolet and Honda will continue with the series? ‘We’re doing everything we can to renew the contracts. We’re good through ’26, and we want to renew these contracts. We have one or two manufacturers that have also shown interest at this point.”

Camara leaves it late to beat Ramos to pole position in Imola (Formula 3)

‘Rafael Camara made it three consecutive pole positions to start the 2025 season after leaving it late to take the top spot from Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos at dramatic Imola qualifying.’

Beganovic earns maiden F2 pole after late red flag (Formula 2)

‘Montoya hit the front next for Prema, but his time was bettered by Beganovic by just 0.003s. The Swede got his 1’27.418 in just before the red flags were waving.’

Meet the ‘invisible crew’ who have 35 seconds to prevent a Eurovision blunder (BBC)

”We call it the Formula 1 tyre change,’ says Richard van Rouwendaal, the affable Dutch stage manager who makes it all work.’

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown driving his Lotus 79 at Imola today.

#F1 #EmiliaRomagnaGP #RaceFans

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— RaceFans (@racefans.net) 16 May 2025 at 16:36

The FIA steward fined Ferrari €5,000 (£4,200) for changing the front tyre pressures on Charles Leclerc’s car during first practice before the original pressures had been checked.

#F1 #EmiliaRomagnaGP #RaceFans

— RaceFans (@racefans.net) 16 May 2025 at 17:46

Motorsport UK is sad to learn of the passing of two firefighters and a member of the public following a major incident at Bicester Motion, the headquarters of the organisation. pic.twitter.com/SOKwDPpqaU

— Motorsport UK (@ourmotorsportuk) May 16, 2025

Kyffin Simpson goes AIRBORNE at @IMS 😳 pic.twitter.com/WlrjY3ilHb

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 16, 2025

Always hungry. 🐊🐉 pic.twitter.com/Ga3h9oSoDO

— Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (@ArrowMcLaren) May 16, 2025

Fantastic dinner in Imola in great company. What an amazing city; always a pleasure to come here. pic.twitter.com/QshtEpPPCJ

— James Vowles (@JV_F1) May 16, 2025

To the topic of the moment. Few facts to Franz Hermann GT3 Nordschleife Test: car was run in DTM spec BoP (less weight, more power, lower ride height than NLS BoP). Laptime: 7:48 Still impressive for a first visit to the green hell. Would be cool to see Franz compete! 😄

— Maro Engel (@MaroEngel) May 16, 2025

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