The duel is served on the legendary Imola circuit. Max Verstappen, alone in the face of danger from the McLarens in this Sunday’s race (3:00 p.m.), seventh of the season. If in Miami the Woking team (Lando Norris) already stole victory from him, in the Emilia Romagna GP the Dutchman puts his hierarchy at stake from pole – the eighth in a row (which equals Ayrton Senna’s historical record) – in the face of harassment of Norris, 2nd, and an Oscar Piastri, 5th (delayed three places due to sanction), who was hot on his heels at only 74 thousandths.
In fact, as Helmut Marko revealed, it was thanks to the slipstream of Nico Hülkenberg’s Haas that the champion was able to take pole: “Thanks to him, Verstappen gained two tenths over Piastri”, the driver who bothered him the most.
The two McLarens got closer than ever to the Red Bull, both within 91 thousandths; They are the car that has come closest this year in lap times to the energetic car. Until now, the one who had gotten closest to Verstappen had been Leclerc, at 141 thousandths, and Sainz at 214, both in Miami.
Carlos Sainz will finally start fourth (favored by Piastri’s sanction) and Fernando Alonso will start second to last (19th), as a result of an accident in the last free practice of the morning.
After not appearing in the three free practice sessions (5th, 7th and 6th) and complaining bitterly about the discomfort of the Imola track, Max Verstappen showed his paw in the first race of the classification with the best time, by beginning and end of Q1. He dominated over the McLarens, the great threat, and the Ferraris, which were the only ones who passed the round riding the yellow (medium) tire and saving all the sets of soft tires.
Quite the opposite of Fernando Alonso, who did not make the cut and was second to last on the grid with an undriveable Aston Martin, who paid the consequences of the accident in Free Practice 3 in the morning. The green team worked overtime to have the car ready on time, but it was out of tune, so the Asturian never managed to set a valid time to move on to Q2 (he even had an exit from the track into the gravel at the Villeneuve chicaneº), despite using three sets of soft tires.
Alonso will start from the last row of the grid, his worst position this season. Only Logan Sargeant (Williams) was worse, not setting a time, although the Spaniard should be penalized for the change of engine.
Now that all the cars were wearing soft tires, with equal conditions, Leclerc started off as the fastest on the track, as he had been in the first two free practice sessions, demonstrating his strength this weekend at Ferrari’s second home. However, before finishing Q2, Verstappen hit the ax to intimidate the Monegasque and take the provisional pole by 152 thousandths. Sainz took sixth place.
The surprise was twofold: the Japanese Tsunoda came second and closed the heat in third position, just 182 thousandths behind the Dutchman, while the disappointment was that of Checo Pérez, who was left out of the top 10 by only 15 thousandths.
The first attempt at Q3 was a spectacular fight between three cars, reduced by less than 2 tenths: Verstappen once again set the tone with a stratospheric 1m14s869, the best time of the weekend; Norris’s McLaren – winner of the previous Miami GP – responded at only 73 thousandths; and Leclerc’s Ferrari placed third at 147 thousandths. The three of them would compete for pole position.
On the second attempt, Verstappen did not forgive. Not only did he maintain his best position, but he lowered his time by more than a tenth. He needed it because Piastri made a turn and was on his heels, just 74 thousandths behind, the second narrowest difference this season between the polesitter (always Max) and his immediate pursuer.
Leclerc lost third position, surpassed by Norris, and Sainz stayed the same, fifth. Neither of the two Ferraris could improve the time on the second attempt.
However, three and a half hours after the qualifying session, the sports stewards handed down their sentence: a 3-position punishment for Piastri for blocking Magnussen in Q1. So the Australian from McLaren lost his second position on the grid, he dropped to 5th place, and Norris, Leclerc and Sainz moved up one space.
“We already expected it, it is a very McLaren circuit, with a medium-fast curve that suits them very well,” commented the Madrid driver. “There is a chance for a podium if we beat the McLarens,” the Ferrari driver was encouraged.
Fernando Alonso was able to barely get out of the qualifying session, after crashing his Aston Martin against the wall 25 minutes into free session 3 in the morning. The Asturian lost the rear of his car and hit the protective fences in the last turn, turn 18, before the finish line, causing a red flag.
Alonso, who was 9th at the time of the accident, suffered no physical damage, but the car had to be extensively repaired and the engine also changed.
However, the Aston Martin was out of the points in the qualifying session and did not manage to enter Q2, so the Asturian will start last in this Sunday’s race.
“I don’t expect anything, to finish the race, go home and think about Monaco. This is the second most difficult circuit to overtake only behind Monaco. There will be very few or no overtaking. Starting from the last row we are going to have a difficult race. It’s one of those days when everything turns out the other way around and you have to accept it,” the Spaniard resigned himself to Dazn’s microphone.
