After struggling to find pace on Friday, Max Verstappen was back on form in qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, securing a record-equalling eighth consecutive pole.
McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris pushed him hard and were within a tenth of the Red Bull, while a strangely poor final Q3 run from Ferrari saw Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have to settle for P4 and P4.
Sergio Perez missed the final cut for the first time in 2024, while Aston Martin managed to get Fernando Alonso’s car repaired in time to take part in the session only to see him end up slowest in Q1.
It had been a messy finish to final practice earlier in the day, due to a late accident for Sergio Perez meaning a number of drivers including Max Verstappen had not been able to fully show what they were capable of today. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris had been ahead of Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, but the truth was that no one had a clue what the real picture was.
Q1: Verstappen comes on strong but Alonso misses the cut in repaired Aston
It was another perfect early summer’s afternoon in northern Italy with the track temperature still hovering in the forties as the cars headed down pit lane. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon initially went top with a time of 1:16.645s which put him 0.074s ahead of Lewis Hamilton both on softs while the two Ferrari cars stuck to mediums – but that didn’t stop Leclerc going nearly two tenths quicker.
Alex Albon looked to be on a promising run before touching the gravel at Rivazza. Norris also dipped a wheel at the same corner but he was still able to punch in a time of 1:16.194s to go top. Verstappen went faster still and then Piastri pipped them both, before Norris’ next run saw him back on top by 0.025s from his team mate.
Russell’s first time on softs was good enough for third. It was soon bettered by Sainz, Gasly and Leclerc, the Ferrari pair still on mediums. At risk of elimination were Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu together with the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant yet to set times. Also under threat was Fernando Alonso, whose Aston Martin had been repaired after his FP3 accident but who went wide on his first lap.
Albon finally produced a time good enough for P12 which put him ahead of Hamilton and dropped Kevin Magnussen into the bottom five in his place. Sargeant was unable to follow suit and remained stuck in the drop zone even before his lap time was deleted while a stunning effort from Hulkenberg put the Haas into the top three behind Verstappen and Leclerc. RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was fourth with his team mate Daniel Ricciardo now safe in ninth, showing the track was improving rapidly. It left Hamilton scraping through on the bubble in P15 with Valtteri Bottas missing the cut. Alonso still wasn’t able to wring a proper run out of his repaired Aston and was slowest of those to post a time.
Q2: Verstappen quickest again but Perez falls short of making it through
There was barely time to draw breath before the drivers were back out for the second round with Russell first to run on used softs, ending up three thousandths of a second behind Hamilton. Both were soon deposed by fast laps from Verstappen and Perez with Hulkenberg impressing again to go into P3. Then it was Leclerc on top with a time of 1:15.328s while Piastri, Norris and Sainz inserted themselves into the gap between the two Bulls.
RB were still flying, Ricciardo getting into the safety of the top ten and then Tsunoda producing gasps as he went P2 by three hundredths from the Ferrari. That left the two Mercedes drivers straddling the cut with Gasly, Ocon, Lance Stroll and Alex Albon also at risk of failing to make the final top ten pole shoot-out round.
After a short intermission, the 15 cars were heading back out for their final Q2 runs. Verstappen went top with a time of 1:15.176s, while Albon improved to match Russell’s existing time – but that didn’t get him out of trouble. Russell then advanced to P7 with Hamilton just behind him before both pipped by Hulkenberg. An improvement from Ricciardo saw him push Perez out of the top ten, and on his final run the Mexican was unable to find the crucial extra hundredths to make it through. He was duly eliminated at the end of Q2 for the first time in 2024, along with Ocon, Stroll, Albon and Gasly.
Q3: Verstappen on pole but pushed hard by Piastri and Norris as Ferrari stutter
After struggling on Friday, things were now looking back on course for Verstappen to claim pole position as the remaining ten cars got back to business. It was Hulkenberg and Verstappen who were keenest to get going at the head of the line on pit lane. The Haas was on a used set of softs and posted a trime of 1:16.308s which was substantially slower than Verstappen, but Norris was only 0.073s off the pace of the Red Bull with Piastri two tenths slower after a small mistake early on his lap..
Leclerc and Sainz interleaved themselves around Piastri leaving Russell in sixth just ahead of Tsunoda and Hamilton, with Ricciardo still biding his time on pit lane after opting to make just one run in this round. The others came back in for fresh tyres and regrouped before their final runs which commenced with three minutes remaining.
Both Ferrari cars had strangely slow first sectors but there was no stopping Verstappen who slashed the top time to 1:14.746s. Norris pushed hard to come within 0.091s of pole, only to be pipped to a front row spot by Piastri. That left Leclerc and Sainz pushed down to fourth and fifth, with Russell keeping hold of sixth from Tsunoda and Hamilton and Ricciardo getting as late jump on Hulkenberg.
The result meant that Verstappen has now Ayrton Senna’s record of eight consecutive pole positions, and also Alain Prost’s record for the number of consecutive poles in the same season.
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Imola GP: Verstappen safely on pole from Piastri and Norris F1i.com.
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