Five red flags and Verstappen’s pole

Cloudy. Rain. Air +12С, route +15…14С

During the sprint weekend before qualifying, there was only one training session, not three, as usual, and at Imola it was in the rain. At the beginning of the session there was a lot of water, by the end the asphalt was almost dry. It was not possible to work with slicks, and in cool weather only Ferrari was able to bring the intermediate tires into working mode, which explained the big difference in the results.

After qualifying, the cars will find themselves in the conditions of a “closed park”, when nothing can be changed in the cars, and on Saturday and Sunday the weather will be different, which will make life difficult for the teams, but all the more interesting.

Due to the gravel safety zones, almost every flight resulted in a stoppage of sessions with red flags – they were postponed and postponed, the schedule was adjusted all the time, but Formula 1 qualifying began on time.

By the beginning of qualifying, the surface was dry almost everywhere, the riders put on slicks and looked for settings during the session. The hardest part was getting the tires up to operating temperature by the start of the fast lap, so many worked in series of laps.

first session many of the caution started on intermediate tyres, only Vettel, Alonso, Stroll, Zhou, Okon and Bottas put Soft straight away, but very soon everyone switched to slicks.

In Albon’s car, on the first lap, the brakes of the rear right wheel caught fire – and the tire exploded, filling the track with burning fragments. The session was stopped by red flags, Alex drove to the pits on his own and did not leave once more.

Dozens of marshals went out to collect tire fragments and debris, following ten minutes the riders were able to continue the fight. All went to Soft.

Latifi turned around at the exit of the sixth turn, he drove onto the grass, but continued to move.

The condition of the track and the results improved, everything was decided in the last seconds. The best time was shown by Leclerc, having passed the lap in 1:18.796, Tsunoda, Gasly, Latifi, Okon and Albon dropped out of the further struggle.

Back to top second session The race track was surrounded by clouds, and the racers hurried to the track in order to have time to complete a lap.

Ten minutes before the end of the session, red flags reappeared – to the chagrin of the downtrodden tifozi of the stands, Sainz crashed the car, flying off the track following attacking the curb in the 18th turn. Carlos was not injured, he was thrown to the pits on a scooter, but the qualification for him ended there.

The pause once more lasted ten minutes, but the situation changed – it started to rain. Most riders stayed in the pits, some went out on intermediate tires to assess the condition of the track, but no one might improve.

Verstappen had the best time of 1:18.793, while Russell, Schumacher, Hamilton, Zhou and Stroll did not qualify for the final.

In the final everyone started the session on intermediate tires. Verstappen crashed out but was able to keep moving. Everyone was on a fast lap when the attempt had to be aborted – Magnussen flew into the gravel – and the session was stopped for the third time by red flags. Kevin was able to return to the track and drove to the pits, so the pause was short.

Everyone once more left on intermediate tires. Alonso attacked, showed the best time in the first sector – and flew to the asphalt safety zone in the second, ruining the circle.

The fourth time the red flags appeared because of Valtteri Bottas, who stopped the car on the side of the road following the 15th turn. Just before this, Verstappen showed the best time – 1:27.999, and the rest had to interrupt the attempt. The evacuation of Bottas’ car took 14 minutes. Until the end of qualifying remained three minutes.

For the final attempt, everyone once more left on intermediate tires. Verstappen complained regarding the lack of clutch.

There was only enough time for one fast lap, but no one might improve – red flags appeared for the fifth time – Lando Norris flew out at turn 13, crossed the gravel safety zone and poked into the barrier. Qualification, which lasted 1 hour and 41 minutes, decided not to continue.

Max Verstappen won qualification at Imola with his 14th career pole and first of the season, Charles Leclerc set second time, but the starting field for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix will be determined by Saturday’s short sprint.

Kevin Magnussen’s fourth place finish is the best finish in Haas F1 history.

Qualification results

Pilot	Team	1 session			2 sessions			3 sessions
		M	Time	Cr	M	Time	Cr	M	Time	Cr
1. M. Verstappen	Red Bull	2	1:19.295	11	1	1:18.793	3	1	1:27.999	8
2. Sh.Lekler	Ferrari	1	1:18.796	10	5	1:19.584	4	2	1:28.778	8
3. L. Norris	McLaren	8	1:20.168	10	3	1:19.294	5	3	1:29.131	7
4. K. Magnussen	Haas	7	1:20.147	11	7	1:19.902	3	4	1:29.164	7
5. F. Alonso	Alpine	9	1:20.198	12	6	1:19.595	6	5	1:29.202	8
6. D. Riccardo	McLaren	6	1:19.980	11	9	1:20.031	3	6	1:29.742	7
7. C.Perez	Red Bull	5	1:19.773	12	4	1:19.296	5	7	1:29.808	8
8. V. Bottas	Alfa Romeo	13	1:20.419	13	10	1:20.192	5	8	1:30.439	5
9. S. Vettel	Aston Martin	11	1:20.364	12	8	1:19.957	6	9	1:31.062	7
10. K. Sainz	Ferrari	3	1:19.305	10	2	1:18.990	3	10	–	0
11. D. Russell	Mercedes	12	1:20.383	13	11	1:20.757	3
12. M. Schumacher	Haas	14	1:20.422	13	12	1:20.916	3
13. L. Hamilton	Mercedes	15	1:20.470	12	13	1:21.138	3
14. Mr. Zhou	Alfa Romeo	4	1:19.730	13	14	1:21.434	3
15. L.Stroll	Aston Martin	10	1:20.342	11	15	1:28.119	3
16. Yu. Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	16	1:20.474	11
17. P.Gasley	AlphaTauri	17	1:20.732	11
18. N. Latifi	Williams	18	1:21.971	13
19. E. Okon	Alpine	19	1:22.338	9
A. Elbon	Williams	20	–	3