17 May 2024 , 17:02
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Lewis Hamilton incurred the wrath of rivals Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso and was accused of impeding them in separate incidents.
Both happened during the second practice session of the weekend on Friday. And the first saw Alonso complain over the radio, believing he had been put off a flying lap by the placement of Hamilton's Mercedes.
The Aston Martin driver took to the radio to express his anger over the incident. He fumed: "Hamilton thinks that he is alone on the track! It's the second lap he does it - turn 12 and now turn seven.
But that wasn't the last time Hamilton would get into a tangle with a fellow racer. Verstappen had to abort a flying lap and threw and arm into the air in frustration as he pulled alongside the Mercedes.
Hamilton took the opportunity to hold up a hand of apology to the Red Bull racer. But as they exchanged those gestures, Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez came across them on track and had to slow down himself to avoid a collision.
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Hamilton may have been the most common offender, but he was far from the only one who got in the way of others on the tight Imola track. His team-mate George Russell sparked an angry response from Zhou Guanyu after the Chinese racer felt he was held up by the Mercedes.
And Perez got himself into Charles Leclerc 's bad books with the placement of his Red Bull on track. "What the f***?" asked the angry Monegasque as he was forced to abort his flying lap.
Red Bull endured a difficult day overall while Leclerc delighted the locals by topping the timesheets in both practice sessions. Verstappen, meanwhile, had to settle for fifth and seventh as he struggled for grip throughout the day.
He went off track on at least four occasions across both sessions - a rarity for a driver who seldom makes mistakes. But he couldn't tame his RB20 and cut a frustrated figure as he spoke to media after the day's running.
Verstappen said: "A difficult day - difficult to get a good balance and I'm just not really feeling comfortable in the car. It's moving around a lot and it's very easy to lose the car. So there are a few things that we have to look at, because today... it's just bad, it's uncomfortable and the long run was really bad, so there are definitely a few things we have to improve if we want to be competitive tomorrow.