Category: Formula 1

Ferrari brought a comprehensive set of upgrades to its first of two home races, which it had shaken down during a filming day at Fiorano last week.

The update covered a lot of areas on the car, including the floor, the wings, sidepod and engine cover, raising hopes of the Tifosi that, following McLaren’s leap forward in Miami with its own spec update, Ferrari could be next to challenge Red Bull at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Qualifying on Saturday burst that bubble, with Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc beaten by Max Verstappen and both McLaren cars.

Leclerc qualified two-tenths off the Dutchman in fourth, with Sainz almost half a second in arrears in fifth.

But according to Sainz, who will move up to fourth after Oscar Piastri’s impeding penalty, the new kit works completely as intended.

“It’s worked exactly as we expected,” the Spaniard said. “For some reason, everyone expected us to be flying this weekend with the new package.

“I’ve been seeing numbers of our package going around that were completely out of reality.

“Nowadays, already to bring a tenth is a good job by your team. I’m not saying we’ve brought one, two or half a tenth, but not the numbers people were mentioning.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“With that in mind, it was always going to be difficult to take a jump this weekend because people are also upgrading their cars.”

Sainz said he predicted to struggle against Piastri and Lando Norris because he expected Imola to be a “McLaren track”, with Ferrari on the back foot in the first sector and through the Variante Alta chicane.

“We have come to a McLaren circuit, which is Imola, and I think it was always going to be difficult to beat McLaren around here,” he explained.

Sainz was especially alarmed by Ferrari’s deficit through sector one, saying it was “puzzling how we can be four-tenths down in one sector.”

He thought a tailwind from Tamburello to Tosa particularly hurt Ferrari’s handling, although a substantial part of the gap to polesitter Verstappen’s was down to the Red Bull’s higher top speed, which was boosted by a tow from Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg.

Leclerc also had his own theory, suggesting to Sky Sports Italy that the Red Bull was able to take the kerbs more aggressively than the Ferraris, which have been struggling in lower-speed corners this season.

“We don’t understand what we are missing there [at Tamburello],” he offered.

“We tried many things but it’s always the same corners that penalise us. It’s something we know and work on, it’s not something we discover now.

“We know a strong point of the Red Bulls is how far they can go on the kerbs. I tried to take the kerbs, but with our car, we can’t do the same thing right now.”

Having been congratulated on his run of poles that stretches back to the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, Verstappen was left to reflect on how his tricky event was turned around following his series of FP1 offs into the Imola gravel.

He called it a “really difficult weekend so far” after climbing from his RB20.

That FP1 outing had been led by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and when Sergio Perez’s late-FP3 crash obscured the true picture of that final practice session headed by Oscar Piastri – and stopped Verstappen getting any Saturday soft-tyre practice pre-qualifying – Ferrari sat as the pole favourite.

But the red home team faded while McLaren rose, with Piastri and Lando Norris ending up as the closest challengers to Verstappen’s inevitable climb back to heading the pack despite his practice woes.

Therefore, it’s these three drivers that we can track through the GPS data of the cars on qualifying’s quickest times. These came as the trio ran behind the Ferrari drivers in the frontrunning pack on the last Q3 runs.

The data reveals that Hulkenberg – running offset to the rest having completed his flying lap at the head of the Q3 group for those last laps, along with RB’s Daniel Ricciardo much further back – boosted Verstappen’s time considerably.

With the Haas ahead for most of the run from the last corner Rivazza 2 to the braking point for the Tamburello chicane, effectively the first turn, Verstappen gains 0.165s on Norris and 0.192s on Piastri.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

At their top speed peak with DRS open here, Verstappen is 4.3mph up on Norris and 5mph up on Piastri. On his first Q3 run, Verstappen’s peak here was 208.8mph compared to 211.3mph on the final attempt.

From there, Piastri exits Tamburello with the biggest deficit – 0.269s – against Verstappen and versus Norris. But a better exit means Piastri gets under Norris’s delta gap to Verstappen by the time they sweep in the Villeneuve chicane, and although the pole-winner is faster through here, on exit Piastri is 0.170s back.

At Tosa, Piastri holding more speed through the hairpin pays him back as he gains on both Verstappen and Norris on the run up the hill to Piratella – where Piastri arrives 0.165s adrift of Verstappen.

But here, Piastri comes out 0.216s back on Verstappen, although he’s able to claw back a few hundredths on the run down the hill.

Through Acque Minerali, Piastri gets back to under two-tenths off Verstappen, before the Dutchman rather aces the Variante Alta chicane and restores his previous advantage. He does, however, ship some time on the run down to Rivazza 1 to arrive with a 0.194s lead over Piastri and sit 0.383s up on Norris.

On every straight compared to the orange cars – even without Hulkenberg’s help elsewhere – the data shows Verstappen can rise up to a greater top speed.

But at the final corners, Norris’s smoother progress compared to Piastri, who corrects a snap midway through Rivazza 2, gets him almost back on terms with the other two contenders on the run to the line. Here, Norris ends up 0.017s short of the other MCL38.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Yet, at this critical point, Verstappen’s Hulkenberg tow is most pertinent because the world champion’s slip through the gusty Rivazza 2 checks his momentum so much that Piastri closes to 0.074s at the finish line.

The difference to Verstappen’s main straight gains at the start of the lap: a 0.118s loss for Piastri.

Given Piastri will now start tomorrow’s race fifth for impeding Kevin Magnussen in Q1, it’s worth looking at Norris’s Turn 1 and finish line differences to Verstappen. The Miami GP winner’s loss in the Hulkenberg tow gain for Verstappen? 0.074s…

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.

While the FIA race stewards sympathised with the Australian, they judged it was the duty of the team to warn its driver of approaching traffic before it was too late, which they explained happened correctly in all other instances on Saturday.

They wrote: “In fact there was an approximately 140km/h speed differential and Magnussen was only approximately 40-50m behind at the time and this meant that Piastri was in the middle of the chicane when Magnussen caught up directly behind Piastri.

“Further, it was clear that Magnussen was on a fast lap since his exit of Turn 19.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“Traffic management for slower cars is an extremely important part of the team/driver combination, particularly in Q1. In this instance the stewards determine that the lack of sufficient warning caused an “unnecessary impeding.”

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said he accepted the decision, acknowledging that the squad should have done a better job communicating.

“The assessment and the judgment of the stewards, we respect it,” Stella responded.

“We need to improve our operations. We move on and hopefully tomorrow we will recover the positions that we lost today on the grid.”

Piastri said he was otherwise buoyed by McLaren confirming its Miami progress in Imola, where he has also received the full upgrade package from the team.

“I’ve been happy with it all weekend to be honest, from the start of P1 all the way through qualifying,” he said.

“Having parts that you know are going to make the car faster on the car is always a confidence boost.

“I think our long runs yesterday looked good, but it’s very, very close. I think that’s been the story of the season and the last few races, everyone’s been so tight.

“Overtaking is very tough here, but I think we can be optimistic.”

Verstappen and Red Bull had appeared on the back foot in Imola all weekend, but after turning around their car set-up, Verstappen came up with a big lap when it mattered and held off McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris for his eighth successive pole.

Verstappen effectively clinched his pole on the straight, with faster top speeds helping him arrive at Turn 2, Tamburello, with a gap twice as big as Piastri’s eventual 0.074s gap.

Not all, but some of that top speed bonus was courtesy of Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, who Verstappen called his “tow buddy” after he had given the German a draft in Q2.

“We were tow buddies out there,” Verstappen grinned when asked by Autosport about the benefit Hulkenberg had given him.

“In Q2, I gave him a tow to Turn 17. Then he gave me a tow to Turn 2. I think I did arrive a bit too quick for my liking because I did miss Turn 2 a little bit, so I did gain and then I did lose a bit in 2.

“Overall, I think it did help me a little bit. But when you are struggling the whole weekend and then finally it’s coming around, you have to look for these little advantages to try and stay ahead and it worked out beautifully.”

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24, in the pit lane

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Verstappen and Hulkenberg’s unlikely partnership was more spontaneous than planned, as the German chose to head out much earlier for Q3’s final flyer to avoid getting stuck in traffic on his out-lap.

That led to him passing Verstappen on his qualifying into the final Rivazza complex, while the Dutchman was bringing his tyres up to temperature.

Verstappen handily tucked behind the Haas coming onto the final straight while Hulkenberg kept going full throttle after the finish line, despite his qualifying session being over.

“Max and I, we’ve been helping each other out this quali,” Hulkenberg told Sky Sports F1 about repaying Verstappen.

“He helped me a few times in Q2 and I returned the favour here [in Q3]. So yeah, you need the support of colleagues sometimes.”

Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble

Finding a remedy to the team’s situation, where it seemed to struggle for a cadence over the kerbs and through the second sector of the Imola circuit, was going to test the team’s usual overnight work heading into Saturday. Both the trackside and factory divisions at Red Bull had to get their hands dirty to decipher the root cause of Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s problems throughout Friday, burning the midnight oil to find something that would rescue its weekend.

McLaren and Ferrari were both ahead of Red Bull in the one-lap pace stakes on Friday. On the hard tyre, Mercedes even looked to be a threat on the FP2 long runs versus the medium-shod RB20s.

The Red Bulls’ pace had been improved slightly by Saturday’s FP3 session, but the car was still not entirely comfortable to drive. It resulted in a nervy wait for qualifying, as tinkering persisted to unlock something in the important sessions.

But there’s one maxim in theatre that Red Bull hoped to follow: “it’ll be alright on the night”. Net result? Verstappen claimed pole over both McLarens, while the Ferraris didn’t really get a look in for a potential front-row start. A tangible sense of relief exuded from Verstappen who had admitted that, after Friday’s running, he’d have simply been content with a top-five result from qualifying. 

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

It was through Acque Minerali where Red Bull struggled to make a splash on Friday. The shifting balance of the car made the RB20 difficult to drive through the double right-hander; sometimes, the car felt too on-the-nose as the balance of grip shifted excessively towards the front tyres. Verstappen thought he was going to spin in those instances, noting that it was “easy to lose the car” after FP2.

Pulling at the main threads from the trackside team’s post-FP2 debriefs and the simulator support work at the factory, Red Bull made changes to the car for FP3 – but now, there were different problems to solve. “We tried a lot of things, of course quite different to what we had yesterday,” Verstappen explained of the team’s overnight work. “But then even this morning it was not really feeling that great, because the balance shifted the other way. We wanted to optimise a few things here and there, but it was just a lot more difficult than we expected it to be, for whatever reason.”

“But everyone just stuck together. They kept on thinking about what we could do, also back at the factory, and we got there in the end.”

The balance shift might be partly down to the effect of wind; Friday’s practice sessions were slightly breezier by comparison to a still Saturday afternoon, but other environmental factors – track temperature, the impact of support categories rubbering in the circuit, and general track evolution – will have had their part to play in FP3 feeling different. Both drivers were adamant that the new upgrades were not behind the problems, Verstappen giving them his appraisal of “they did the job”. 

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

It was between FP3 and qualifying when the penny finally faced its precipitous drop – although Verstappen went into Q1 still shouldering a tentative approach. Red Bull had not yet been able to find where the balance was but, conversely, it had found something almost as good: where the balance wasn’t.

“There was really no reference going into qualifying,” Verstappen added. “But it felt straight away a lot better. I felt more comfortable. I could attack corners finally a bit more. It all started to come together.”

Balance is an often nebulous term in F1 – it’s usually subjective and depends on the drivers’ sentiments towards understeer and oversteer. Verstappen likes his cars to tend towards oversteer, and has excellent control on the throttle and brakes to balance the rear end out, but he was not a fan of the car being so skewed towards its front wheels in FP2 – and was worried that the rear was going to buckle.

Perez was more specific on where the issues lay with the RB20, having gone through the rigamarole himself of struggling with a car outside of its natural set-up habitat. The Mexican was dumped out in Q2, where he was onto the back foot in having to start the intermediate qualifying phase on scrubbed tyres. On his final set, he revealed that he “picked up a lot of rear grip and I went straight into Turn 7, and lost two and a half tenths”, which rather correlates with the idea that the balance had shifted slightly too far rearwards for FP3.

He also echoed Verstappen’s comments that simply having the confidence to “attack” the kerbs was the key to transforming the Red Bull’s fortunes in qualifying. In FP1, the Red Bull appeared to absorb the smaller kerb strikes nicely and barely seemed affected by the rumble strip out of Acque Minerali – but the compliance over the larger kerbs looked far more variable.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“I think it is just a very tricky track to get it properly right. We were playing a lot with the car, with the ride, with the set-up here and there,” Perez detailed. “We tried everything. It was good to see Max made a lot of progress and I felt from my side of the car it was getting better but unfortunately, we didn’t get to show it.”

“I think mainly, one of the issues is the ride, the kerbing. You have a lot of kerbs around here. And just balance. You need that confidence on entry to attack those medium-speed corners, those braking corners. If the balance is a little bit off, it can be costly.”

Once the car was in a frame where Verstappen found it a more malleable contender, it was up to his driving to make the difference. “It’s just following the track, to be honest. I mean, Q1, Q2, Q3, just knowing where there is maybe a bit more time to gain, you try to hook up the corners a bit better. Then of course the final lap is all out – you try to risk it all, which I think you could see in the final corner – I had a bit of a moment there!”

He was also helped by his adopted “tow-buddy” Nico Hulkenberg into Turn 1 on his final flyer, assistance that he agreed helped him overall despite a snatch at the brakes into the second part of the Tamburello chicane. He gained just over a tenth though the tow itself, a delta that halved through the Turn 2 “miss”, but nailing the Variante Alta chicane was also key to his improvement overall.

Race pace will present uncharted waters for Red Bull with the set-up it went into qualifying with. The longer runs on Friday did not look particularly special and stacked up at about fourth-best when combining those who ran with both medium and hard tyres. Verstappen is confident that the changes will have introduced more performance in race trim, but he noted that the two McLarens surrounding him on the grid would be “strong” – the papaya cars looked like the most consistent proposition across a grand prix stint.

After Miami’s loss to McLaren, it looked as though Red Bull was set to concede once more after Friday’s practice sessions. Instead, it dusted itself off and has now positioned itself as the favourite to take victory in Sunday’s 63-lap affair at Imola. Verstappen will likely face a stern challenge from the cars behind him, but it’s already taken a mighty effort from Red Bull to get him this far into the hunt. Another final push for Sunday is inevitable.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

On a weekend where Red Bull had to adjust its ride height set-ups considerably to cope with the RB20’s ongoing dislike for kerbs, Perez’s crash late in FP3 meant Max Verstappen went into qualifying without any flying lap preparation on the soft tyres.

Although this didn’t ultimately prevent the Dutchman blitzing to pole, Perez failed to progress to Q2 – blaming a switch between used and new softs in Q2 for a costly Tosa hairpin mistake from which he couldn’t recover.

Tsunoda, meanwhile, finished third in FP2 and repeated that result in Q2. This raised expectations of what he could achieve ahead of the race at Imola, just 10 miles from the RB team’s Faenza base.

The Japanese driver is benefitting from this event’s typical GP weekend schedule compared to the previous two sprint events leaving him feeling calmer overall.

In the end in qualifying, Tsunoda was left to reflect on a final Q3 lap where he “could have done much better than that” as he ended up seventh. He did, however, beat Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and RB team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

“The team gave me such a nice car since FP1 and [I’ve been] feeling confident throughout the week,” he added. “Without that, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this [result] on one set [of tyres] in Q2. Very happy and thanks to them.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect this much performance from the car, so it’s hard to tell. Normally we struggle in the high speed, but we see a big difference compared to the previous races compared to the top five teams.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“So, something to understand properly for going forward – because moments like this to be honest I didn’t expect. Maybe home race power?”

Tsunoda also hailed the progress made by the new staff at the former AlphaTauri squad in 2024, including team principal Laurent Mekies.

After the Miami race where RB added floor and diffuser upgrades to its VCARB 01 car and Tsunoda finished seventh in the GP, Mekies said he’s “made a huge step this year”.

At Red Bull’s main team and post-qualifying 11th at Imola, Perez explained: “Unfortunately, my first lap in Q1 wasn’t ideal.

“We thought we were not safe so we put another set of new tyres on and by doing that it basically meant I was on scrubbed tyres for my final run of quali.

“When I put the new tyre on in Q2, I picked up a lot of rear grip and I went straight into Turn 7 [Tosa], lost two-and-a-half tenths which, given the margins were extremely tight, I just didn’t make it.”

In the other RB, Ricciardo qualified ninth having struggled with oversteer sapping him of confidence compared to Tsunoda in Friday practice.

Although uncertainty over Verstappen’s Red Bull future can be parked as the interregnum team’s 2024 management war continues, Perez’s various plights at Imola show what a tough decision Red Bull has to make over the only 2025 seat it definitely still has free.

The team decided to see if he could keep up a relatively strong start to the season – his underperformance in Australia qualifying led to damage in the pack and so being unable to rescue a win after Verstappen’s brake issue – and is waiting to see if he avoids 2023’s early-summer slump.

Yuki Tsunoda, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Moments such as those at Imola on Saturday make the case for Perez staying significantly harder. At the same time, while Tsunoda has shone it still may not be enough for the pieces to fall his way for a 2025 promotion.

Heading into 2024, Red Bull team Christian Horner was open to a Ricciardo return, which has been complicated by the Australian’s inconsistent form so far this year. Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, while impressed by Tsunoda’s calmer radio demeanour of late, still needs to be convinced of his ultimate potential.

RB has been specifically working with Tsunoda to help him avoid the ‘red mist’ moments following setbacks that he has often had in the past.

And then there’s the availability of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Although he has been eclipsed by team-mate Charles Leclerc at Imola to this point, he is considered a step above either Tsunoda or Ricciardo if Red Bull were to dispense with Perez.

But given his form so far in Emilia-Romagna, Tsunoda should at least reflect on a fine performance at what is a brutal and tricky track – highlighted by Perez’s struggles in the season’s best car.

For an eighth consecutive Formula 1 grand prix, Verstappen took pole position to equal Ayrton Senna’s all-time record on pole streaks.

The reigning world champion battled back from a tough trio of practice sessions for Red Bull, to grab top spot by 0.074s from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

But the Australian driver is at risk of a grid penalty as he is under investigation for impeding Kevin Magnussen during Q1.

For now, Piastri will line up on the front row alongside Verstappen with Lando Norris in third, ahead of both Ferraris with Charles Leclerc in fourth and Carlos Sainz in fifth.

George Russell put his Mercedes sixth ahead of Yuki Tsunoda’s impressive seventh for RB, who out-qualified Lewis Hamilton in eighth. RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10.

It was a tough qualifying for Fernando Alonso, following a heavy crash in FP3, as he suffered off-track moments in Q1 to drop out in 19th for Aston Martin – only ahead of Logan Sargeant for Williams who had all of his lap times deleted for exceeding track limits.

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

When is the F1 Imola Grand Prix?

Date: Sunday 19 May 2024

Start time: 3pm local time/2pm BST

The seventh round of the 2024 F1 season, the Imola GP, gets underway at 3pm local time on Sunday 19 May.

How can I watch Formula 1?

In the United Kingdom, Formula 1 is broadcast live on Sky Sports, with highlights shown on Channel 4 several hours after the race has finished. Live streaming through NOW is also available in the UK.

Sky Sports F1, which broadcasts the F1 races, can be added as part of the Sky Sports channels which costs £18 a month for new customers. Sky Sports can also be accessed through NOW with a one-off day payment of £11.99p or a month membership of £34.99p per month.

How can I watch the F1 Imola GP?

In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports will be live broadcasting the Imola GP.

The race will be shown live on Sky Sports F1, with pre-race coverage starting at 12:30pm BST, ahead of the race start at 2:00pm BST.

• Channels: Sky Sports F1
• Start time: 12:30pm BST, Sunday 19 May 2024

Autosport will be running a live text coverage of the Imola GP here. 

When can I watch the F1 Imola GP highlights?

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

In the United Kingdom, Channel 4 is broadcasting highlights of the Imola GP at 6:30pm BST on Sunday. The full programme will run for two and a half hours, covering the pre-race, the race highlights and the initial post-race reaction to wrap up the major talking points of the race weekend.

For the entire 2024 F1 season, Channel 4 will broadcast highlights of every qualifying and race of each event. The highlights will also be available on Channel 4’s on demand catch-up services.

Channel: Channel 4
Start time: 6:30pm BST, Sunday 19 May 2024

Will the F1 Imola GP be on the radio?

Live radio coverage of every practice, qualifying and race for the 2024 F1 season will be available on the BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Live Sports Extra stations, the BBC Sounds app and the via the BBC Sport website.

Live coverage of the Imola GP will start at 4:00pm BST on BBC Radio 5 Live and on the BBC Sounds app.

Weather forecast for the F1 Imola GP

Current weather forecasts predict partly sunny and warm conditions in Imola, but with a fair chance of rain and moderate winds. The temperature is expected to be 24 degrees Celsius for the start of the race.

How many laps is the F1 Imola GP?

The race is scheduled to complete 63 laps of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit, covering a total race distance of 309.049km.

F1 Imola GP starting grid

After every F1 qualifying session, Autosport publishes each team’s qualifying record in terms of team-mate duels.

This record is based exclusively on qualifying results so that grid penalties don’t alter the statistics.

When a driver can’t put in a representative lap time due to a technical issue or an incident, this will be mentioned in the table.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen	9-0 (7-0 without sprints)	Sergio PErez
1	Bahrain	5 (+0.358s in Q3)
1	Saudi Arabia	3 (+0.335s in Q3)
1	Australia	3 (+0.359s in Q3)
1	Japan	2 (+0.066s in Q3)
4	China (sprint)	6 (+0.347s in Q3 – rain)
1	China	2 (+0.322s in Q3)
1	Miami (sprint)	3 (+0.235s in Q3)
1	Miami	4 (+0.219s in Q3)
1	Imola	11 (+0.530s in Q2)

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton	2-7 (1-6 without sprints)	George Russell
9 (+0.225s in Q3)	Bahrain	3
8 (+0.144s in Q3)	Saudi Arabia	7
11 (+0.059s in Q2)	Australia	7
7	Japan	9 (+0.242s in Q3)
2	China (sprint)	11 (+0.058s in Q2)
18 (+0.489s in Q1)	China	8
12 (+0.028s in Q2)	Miami (sprint)	11
8 (+0.040s in Q3)	Miami	7
8 (+0.270s in Q3)	Imola	6

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc	5-3 (4-2 without sprints)	Carlos Sainz
2	Bahrain	4 (+0.100s in Q3)
5 (+0.250s in Q3)	Australia	2
8 (+0.104s in Q3)	Japan	4
7 (+0.352s in Q3 – rain)	China (sprint)	5
6	China	7 (+0.008s in Q3)
2	Miami (sprint)	5 (+0.354s in Q3)
2	Miami	3 (+0.073s in Q3)
4	Imola	5 (+0.263s in Q3)

Charles Leclerc	1-0	Oliver Bearman
2	Saudi Arabia	11 (+0.530s in Q2)

McLaren

Lando Norris	6-3 (5-2 without sprints)	Oscar Piastri
7	Bahrain	8 (+0.069s in Q3)
6 (+0.043s in Q3)	Saudi Arabia	5
4	Australia	6 (+0.257s in Q3)
3	Japan	6 (+0.271s in Q3)
1	China (sprint)	8 (+3.050s in Q3 – rain)
4	China	5 (+0.108s in Q3)
9 (+0.311s in Q3)	Miami (sprint)	6
5	Miami	6 (+0.081s in Q3)
3 (+0.017s in Q3)	Imola	2

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso	5-4 (4-3 without sprints)	Lance Stroll
6	Bahrain	12 (+0.399s in Q2)
4	Saudi Arabia	10 (+0.726s in Q3)
10 (+0.480s in Q3)	Australia	9
5	Japan	16 (+0.770s in Q1)
3	China (sprint)	15 (+0.558s in Q2)
3	China	11 (+0.186s in Q2)
8 (+0.044s in Q3)	Miami (sprint)	7
15 (+0.205s in Q2)	Miami	11
19 (+0.459s in Q1 – went off)	Imola	13

Alpine

Pierre Gasly	2-7 (1-6 without sprints)	Esteban Ocon
20 (+0.155s in Q1)	Bahrain	19
18 (+0.004s in Q1)	Saudi Arabia	17
17 (+0.365s in Q1)	Australia	15
17 (+0.308s in Q1)	Japan	15
16	China (sprint)	17 (+0.088s in Q1)
15 (+0.240s in Q2)	China	13
16 (+0.312s in Q1)	Miami (sprint)	13
12	Miami	13 (+0.047s in Q2)
15 (+0.475s in Q2)	Imola	12

Williams

Alexander Albon	7-1 (6-0 without sprints)	Logan Sargeant
13	Bahrain	18 (+0.373s in Q1)
12	Saudi Arabia	19 (+0.419s in Q1)
12	Australia	DNS
14	Japan	19 (+0.176s in Q1)
18	China (sprint)	20 (+0.111s in Q1)
14	China	20 (+0.974s in Q1 – spin)
20 (+0.307s in Q1)	Miami (sprint)	19
14	Miami	17 (+0.144s in Q1)
14	Imola	– (no lap time – track limits)

RB

Yuki Tsunoda	6-3 (6-1 without sprints)	Daniel Ricciardo
11	Bahrain	14 (+0.149s in Q2)
9	Saudi Arabia	14 (+0.461s in Q2)
8	Australia	18 (+1.297s in Q1)
10	Japan	11 (+0.055s in Q2)
19 (+0.571s in Q1)	China (sprint)	14
19 (+0.303s in Q1)	China	12
15 (no lap time – track limits)	Miami (sprint)	4
10	Miami	18 (+0.293s in Q1)
7	Imola	9 (+0.209s in Q3)

Sauber

Valtteri Bottas	8-1 (7-0 without sprints)	Zhou Guanyu
16	Bahrain	17 (+0.001s in Q1)
16	Saudi Arabia	– (no lap time – crash in FP3)
13	Australia	20 (+0.848s in Q1)
13	Japan	20 (+0.541s in Q1)
9	China (sprint)	10 (+2.493s in Q3 – rain)
10	China	16 (+0.336s in Q1)
18 (+0.093s in Q1)	Miami (sprint)	17
16	Miami	20 (+0.361s in Q1)
16	Imola	17 (+0.208s in Q1)

Haas

Nico Hulkenberg	6-3 (5-2 without sprints)	Kevin Magnussen
10	Bahrain	15 (+0.678s in Q2)
15 (no lap time – technical issue)	Saudi Arabia	13
16 (+0.267s in Q1)	Australia	14
12	Japan	18 (+0.310s in Q1)
13 (+0.005s in Q2)	China (sprint)	12
9	China	17 (+0.448s in Q1)
10	Miami (sprint)	14 (+0.284s in Q2)
9	Miami	19 (+0.236s in Q1)
10	Imola	18 (+1.013s in Q1 – impeded)

Verstappen will start ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Imola Grand Prix grid: Verstappen on pole from Piastri

What happened in Imola Grand Prix Q1?

Piastri set the early pace at 1m15.940s, 0.073s quicker than Verstappen, before F1’s most recent race winner Norris snatched P1 by 0.025s with a 1m15.915s.

Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg briefly grabbed the top spot with 1m15.841s, before Verstappen unleashed a session-topping 1m15.762s, 0.061s ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Falling at the first hurdle were Valtteri Bottas (Sauber), Zhou Guanyu (Sauber), Kevin Magnussen (Haas, who was baulked by Piastri on his final lap), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Logan Sargeant (Williams).

Alonso suffered an off at Tamburello, his Aston’s handling looked terrible after the team scrambled to rebuild it after he crashed at Rivazza in FP3. He was forced to abort his final lap with an “unknown problem”.

Sargeant chose the Villeneuve chicane for his ride across the gravel trap. He had his quickest time, that was good enough for 17th, deleted due to exceeding track limits. 

Imola GP Q1 results: Verstappen fastest from Leclerc

What happened in Imola Grand Prix Q2?

Leclerc set the bar at 1m15.328s, 0.03s faster than Yuki Tsunoda’s RB, with Verstappen another 0.03s further back.

But Verstappen restored normal service with a session-topping 1m15.176s late on to top Q2 by 0.152s.

Knocked out at this point were Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Alex Albon (Williams) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine).

Imola GP Q2 results: Verstappen fastest from Leclerc

What happened in Imola Grand Prix Q3?

On the first runs, Verstappen set the pace at 1m14.869s, 0.073s faster than Norris and Leclerc 0.147s off the provisional pole.

On the final runs, Leclerc improved to within 0.101s but stayed third. Verstappen found even more time, with 1m14.746s, to extend his advantage.

Norris got to within 0.091s of pole, but Piastri pipped his team-mate to the front row with a 1m14.820s, 0.074s away from Verstappen – who would have started on the second row if he hadn’t improved on his final push lap.

The Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will start fourth and fifth respectively, ahead of George Russell (Mercedes), Yuki Tsunoda (RB), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Daniel Ricciardo (RB) and Hulkenberg.

Imola GP Q3 results: Verstappen takes pole

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 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 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.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Next came Lewis Hamilton in eighth, Daniel Ricciardo 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.

F1 Imola GP qualifying result