Max Verstappen earned his eighth successive pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix beating both McLarens at Imola.
After struggling on Friday in a tricky practice sessions, the Red Bull worked on the RB20 setup and Max Verstappen delivered the result with pole on Saturday.
Verstappen needed late efforts to set his best times in the opening two parts of qualifying, but led from the off in Q3 – his first run at a time of one minute, 14.869 seconds ahead of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.
The Ferrari drivers then headed the pack on the final efforts, where Leclerc could not recover enough time from missing his personal best in the first sector and stayed third.
Behind, Verstappen set purple sectors in the first two thirds of the lap but slight error through the final corner – Rivazza 2 – meant he was vulnerable even as he improved the top time to one minute, 14.746 seconds.
Miami Grand Prix winner Norris also improved but paid the price for a slower middle sector than he had managed on his opening go in Q3, with Oscar Piastri then stealing ahead of his teammate and Leclerc as he beat Verstappen in the final sector to end up 0.074 seconds adrift.
Despite setting the second quickest time, the race stewards have decided to penalise Piastri with a three-place grid drop after impeding Kevin Magnussen late in Q1. This penalty promotes his McLaren teammate Norris onto the front row.
Behind the trio came Carlos Sainz, George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda, who had shone with a rapid Q2 time before fading from the lead fight.
Next came Lewis Hamilton in eighth, Daniel Ricciardo in ninth and Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top ten.
Verstappen topped Q2 ahead of Leclerc, in which Sergio Perez was knocked out despite setting his best time at the end of the middle segment.
Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly were also eliminated at this stage.
In Q1, which Verstappen led also ahead of Leclerc when the Ferraris progressed on the mediums, last-gasp personal bests were not enough to save Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu in 16-17-18.
Magnussen ended up P19 ahead of Fernando Alonso, who missed the start of the opening segment as Aston Martin worked to repair the car he had damaged during his FP3 crash.
But the 2005 race winner abandoned his final effort as he failed to improve on his personal best late on having made a mistake and gone through the Tamburello exit gravel on his second attempt.
Sargeant later got his lap time deleted and was demoted to last position on the grid.
So a dramatic turnaround for Red Bull with Max struggling in FP1 and FP2, but when the matter counts, the triple champion produced the result to take pole.
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:14.746
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:14.837
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:14.970
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:15.233
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:14.820*
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:15.234
7 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:15.465
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:15.504
9 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:15.674
10 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:15.980
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:15.706
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:15.906
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:15.992
14 Alex Albon Williams 1:16.200
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:16.381
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:16.626
17 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:16.834
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:16.854
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:16.917
20 Logan Sargeant Williams No time
*Three-place grid penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen
Max Verstappen has added to his run of pole positions by clinching P1 on the grid for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, with the Dutchman narrowly triumphing over his rivals with an unbeatable lap in Imola.
Verstappen had set a strong benchmark during the initial runs of Q3 and improved even further during his final effort, pumping in a time of 1m 14.746s in the Red Bull. This put him 0.074s clear of second-placed Oscar Piastri – who faces a post-session stewards visit for allegedly impeding the Haas of Kevin Magnussen earlier – and McLaren team mate Lando Norris in third.
Charles Leclerc was the lead Ferrari in fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz in fifth, with the Scuderia not quite matching the pace they had displayed earlier in the weekend. George Russell went sixth for Mercedes, while Yuki Tsunoda impressively took seventh place in front of RB’s home crowd.
Lewis Hamilton claimed P8 in the Mercedes, with the top 10 rounded out by RB’s Daniel Ricciardo in P9 and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg in P10.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-grabs-unexpected-pole-position-in-imola-ahead-of-piastri-and.2rr0Q9ap09QJ0fNWvMkiI6
Max Verstappen has admitted that pole position was far from his thinking after a “really difficult” start to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend, with the Dutchman and Red Bull staging an impressive fightback in qualifying.
Verstappen ended Friday’s running only seventh on the timesheets after several off-track excursions, angry radio messages and a run-in with former title rival Lewis Hamilton – describing Red Bull as “severely off pace”.
However, after some more learnings in final practice, Verstappen and Red Bull returned to form during qualifying as the reigning world champion stormed to pole ahead of McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Speaking after qualifying, Verstappen said: “[It’s been] a really difficult weekend so far, even this morning [in final practice]. I’m incredibly happy to be on pole here, I didn’t expect that.
“We made some final changes [to the car set-up] before qualifying, and they seemed to make it feel a bit better, so I could push a bit harder.
“This track is unbelievable… On a qualifying lap, to be on the limit here, close to the gravel… I touched the gravel in the last corner. I’m still pumping, the adrenaline is very, very high!”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-hails-last-minute-set-up-changes-after-claiming-surprise-imola.2iQuWSCG4Qz49hIsge4g7X
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are feeling optimistic about McLaren’s prospects for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix following a strong performance in qualifying, with the pair just a tenth away from pole-sitter Max Verstappen in P2 and P3.
With Piastri having topped the timesheets during an eventful third practice session earlier in the day, the Australian continued to show good pace when it came to qualifying. While he was unable to beat Verstappen’s benchmark of a 1m 14.746s, his final effort was only 0.074s off, putting him alongside the Dutchman on the front row.
Asked for his thoughts after stepping out of the car, Piastri reflected: “It was pretty good. A little bit of a scruffy last corner, but I think around here it’s so, so difficult to do a perfect lap. I’m really happy, I’ve been really comfortable with the car since the moment we put it on track yesterday.
“It’s so, so close to pole, but I’m very happy. It’s been a little while since I’ve been up here, so I’m very happy with how this weekend’s going so far.”
“I think we’ve definitely been on the pace all weekend. You can never count out Max and Red Bull, of course, like we’ve just seen. I think the confidence is high, of course it’s not the easiest track to overtake on, but I think the confidence is high that we can do something good.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/piastri-says-confidence-is-high-for-what-mclaren-can-achieve-in-imola-after.3np7NjqbLxwn3cvKiPowK6
Charles Leclerc commented that McLaren and Red Bull “hid their game a bit more than we thought” after Ferrari slipped from the top of the practice timesheets to a low-key fourth and fifth during qualifying in Imola.
Leclerc was fastest in both FP1 and FP2 on Friday as Ferrari made a strong early impression at their first home race of the season, where the SF-24s of the Monegasque and team mate Carlos Sainz took on a host of upgrades.
However, as Saturday unfolded, and the crunch qualifying session took place, Leclerc and Sainz could not keep up with the pace of recovering Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Asked if it was a surprise to place behind the McLarens at the end of qualifying, Leclerc said: “I’m a bit disappointed. Just today there wasn’t much more in the car.
“FP1 and FP2 went really well, however we never know what are the fuel levels of the others and I think they hid their game a bit more than what we thought. That ended up by just having not enough performance in the car to do better today.
“It’s a shame, because when you have upgrades on the car, when you are at [Ferrari’s] home, you obviously want to do really well, but today was the best we could do. Tomorrow we will focus on maxmising the result, but the target remains the win, for sure.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/leclerc-feels-rivals-hid-their-game-as-ferrari-slip-back-in-imola-qualifying.3FF9QKOnKxZrNKPAomR0q2
McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri has been given a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after impeding Kevin Magnussen.
In Q1 Piastri blocked Haas driver Magnussen into the Tamburello complex on the Dane’s final flyer.
The incident ruined Magnussen’s session, going out in 18th while team-mate Nico Hulkenberg advanced to Q3.
Piastri said that he “didn’t see any cars coming” in his mirror because the main straight before Turn 2 curves to the left, leaving Magnussen in his blind spot.
The three-place grid drop bumps Piastri from second to fifth after qualifying less of a tenth behind polesitter Max Verstappen in Q3.
Team-mate Lando Norris and both Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz all move up a spot.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/piastri-given-three-place-grid-penalty-at-f1-imola-gp-for-impeding-magnussen/10612623/