A smiling Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen rebounded from his practice troubles to destroy Ferrari and McLaren’s dreams by taking pole position at Imola, the Dutchman P1 by a tenth of a second.
Lando Norris, the winner of the Miami GP, will line up alongside him on the front row of the grid for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will complete the second row.
Fernando Alonso’s troubles continue with Q1 exit
Despite most of the field opting for soft tyres in Q1, Ferrari’s confidence in the upgraded SF-24 led them to choose the mediums. Nonetheless, Lando Norris secured the top spot, with Oscar Piastri in second place, after the initial run.
After his FP3 crash, Fernando Alonso had his AMR24 repaired by Aston Martin and was back on track. Meanwhile, Alex Albon kicked up dirt out of Rivazza and Alonso also experienced a significant moment in the gravel.
After starting from the 20th position, Nico Hulkenberg made a remarkable surge to claim the top spot, only to be surpassed by Max Verstappen’s impressive lap time of 1:15.7. Unfortunately, Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen, and Alonso were eliminated from the race.
After qualifying, the stewards declared that Piastri would be subjected to an investigation due to impeding Magnussen at Turn 2.
F1 2024 team-mate wars in numbers
F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates
F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Sergio Perez the big name to fall in Q2
As Q2 began, Lewis Hamilton, the only driver on used tyres, curiously questioned Mercedes, “Where is everyone?”
Verstappen shattered his 1:16.1 record, only for Charles Leclerc to surpass him by 0.03s and claim the top spot on the timesheet, leaving Yuki Tsunoda just behind.
Just like in Q1, Verstappen once again delivered a last-minute impressive lap to claim the top spot in the session. However, his teammate Sergio Perez was unable to match his performance, failing to secure the required lap time to advance. Perez finished qualifying in 11th place, missing out by a mere 0.015 seconds.
Max Verstappen claims pole position at Imola
Verstappen secured a remarkable feat as the track temperature decreased by five degrees, achieving a stunning time of 1:14.8. Norris trailed behind, provisionally taking the second spot with a mere 0.073s gap, while Leclerc held onto third place. The Mercedes team opted for used tyres during their initial run, resulting in Russell taking the sixth position and Hamilton settling for eighth.
Carlos Sainz, the initial Ferrari driver to finish the race, was unable to enhance his position, while Leclerc managed to improve but remained in third place. Verstappen, on the other hand, solidified his dominance over his competitors by setting a faster time of 1:14.746.
Piastri leapt into second place, displacing his McLaren team-mate from the front row, but was penalized with a three-place grid drop after qualifying for obstructing Magnussen. As a result, Norris was elevated to P2.
Piastri and Russell trail behind Leclerc and Sainz, completing an all-Ferrari row two.
Times
1 Max VERSTAPPEN 1:14.746
2 Oscar PIASTRI +0.074
3 Lando NORRIS +0.091
4 Charles LECLERC +0.224
5 Carlos SAINZ +0.487
6 George RUSSELL +0.488
7 Yuki TSUNODA +0.719
8 Lewis HAMILTON +0.758
9 Daniel RICCIARDO +0.928
10 Nico HULKENBERG +1.234
11 Sergio PEREZ 1:15.706
12 Esteban OCON 1:15.906
13 Lance STROLL 1:15.992
14 Alexander ALBON 1:16.200
15 Pierre GASLY 1:16.381
16 Valtteri BOTTAS 1:16.626
17 Guanyu ZHOU 1:16.834
18 Kevin MAGNUSSEN 1:16.854
19 Fernando ALONSO 1:16.917
20 Logan SARGEANT
Read next: Follow PlanetF1.com’s WhatsApp channel for all the F1 breaking news!
