F1 Imola GP: Verstappen takes pole from Piastri as Ferrari disappoints

Having struggled in all three practice sessions so far at the Emilia-Romagna race, Verstappen hailed Red Bull's pre-qualifying set-up changes for "feeling a bit better and I could push a bit".

"This track is unbelievable," Verstappen added. "And 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 high."

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 a 1m14.869s ahead of 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 blitzed to purple sectors in the first two thirds of the lap but a wobble through the final corner – Rivazza 2 – meant he was vulnerable even as he improved the top time to a 1m14.746s.

Norris also improved but paid the price for a slower middle sector than he had managed on his opening go in Q3, with Piastri then stealing ahead of his team-mate and Leclerc as he beat Verstappen in the final sector to end up 0.074s adrift.

But Piastri faces a post-session investigation for appearing to impede Kevin Magnussen late in Q1.

Behind the frontrunners 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 10.

Verstappen topped Q2 ahead of Leclerc, where Sergio Perez was the biggest faller in the other Red Bull 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 16th-18th.

Magnussen ended up 19th 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 Spaniard 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 the bottom of the grid.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'14.746	236.432
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.074 1'14.820	236.198
3	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.091 1'14.837	236.145
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.224 1'14.970	235.726
5	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.487 1'15.233	234.902
6	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.488 1'15.234	234.899
7	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		RB	Red Bull	+0.719 1'15.465	234.180
8	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.758 1'15.504	234.059
9	D. Ricciardo RB	3		RB	Red Bull	+0.928 1'15.674	233.533
10	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	+1.234 1'15.980	232.592
11	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.960 1'15.706	233.434
12	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	+1.160 1'15.906	232.819
13	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+1.246 1'15.992	232.556
14	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	+1.454 1'16.200	231.921
15	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	+1.635 1'16.381	231.371
16	V. Bottas Sauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	+1.880 1'16.626	230.631
17	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	+2.088 1'16.834	230.007
18	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	+2.108 1'16.854	229.947
19	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+2.171 1'16.917	229.759
20	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes
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