<p>IMOLA, Italy — Max Verstappen posted the fastest time in the final practice for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to boost his chances of taking pole position later Saturday.</p>
<p>The Red Bull driver was nearly half a second faster than the rest of the pack. He was 0.456 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and .557 clear of world champion Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.</p>
<p>Mercedes led the two practice sessions on Friday with Valtteri Bottas fastest in both, just ahead of Hamilton as Red Bull endured a tough start to the weekend.</p>
<p>Verstappen’s second practice lasted just 10 minutes after a driveshaft problem.</p>
<p>Bottas was only eighth-fastest on Saturday, nearly a second slower than Verstappen.</p>
<p>The Emilia-Romagna GP is the second race of the Formula One season. Hamilton won the opener in Bahrain last month, just ahead of Verstappen after a thrilling duel.</p>
<p>That race was effectively decided when Verstappen overtook Hamilton but went too wide on a turn and off the track limits. He was told by his team to give Hamilton the position back.</p>
<p>Track limits could also pose a problem at Imola as several drivers had their times deleted after running wide on Turn Nine.</p>
<p>Saturday’s practice was briefly red-flagged after Nicholas Latifi lost control at the Villeneuve chicane and slid through the gravel and into the barriers.</p>
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