Verstappen will start the sprint qualifying race ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris – who was one of many drivers who came out – after a one-hour qualifying session that was halted repeatedly.
The result of Saturday’s sprint race determines the grid for Sunday’s main event. The winner of the sprint will be awarded the pole position event of the event.
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Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Qualifier Results: Verstappen at Six by Leclerc
What happened in Q1?
The session started on a slightly damp but quickly drying track. Twelve minutes later, Alex Albon’s Williams flag was red when his right rear brake overheated and ignited, causing the tire to explode as he returned to the pits.
Times collapsed throughout the session, with Sainz taking the P1 seven minutes earlier with a lap of 1m20.319s, 0.03s ahead of Verstappen. Leclerc took control with four minutes left with 1m19.545s, 0.015s faster than Sainz.
Sainz took the P1 with 1m19.305s, before Verstappen overtook him with 0.01s at 1m19.295s, after which Leclerc grabbed first place in half a second with 1m18.796s.
In the battle to reach Q2, Lewis Hamilton managed to cope with only 0.004 seconds. The first hurdle saw AlkiTauris of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon of Alpine (who suspected a gearbox problem) and Williamses of Nicholas Latifi (spinning) and Albon.
Results of the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna Q1: Leclerc the fastest from Verstappen
What happened in Q2?
More rain threatened at the beginning of the session, sending the other cars to the track immediately.
Sainz set the initial pace at 1m18.990s, but this was quickly beaten by Verstappen at 1m18.793s. A second red flag soon emerged when Sainz put his Ferrari on Rivazza’s tires. Lando Norris was McLaren’s third fastest, ahead of Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Leclerc.
It’s raining during the break, which means there will be no more improvements. At that point, George Russell (Mercedes), Mick Schumacher (Haas), Hamilton, Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) were knocked out – who did not get a representative lap time before stopping.
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Results of Emilia Romagna’s Grand Prix Q2 Grand Prix: Verstappen the fastest from Sainz
What happened in Q3?
Because Sainz had bathed before, nine cars competed in the sprint shootout on poles in wet conditions.
The first rehearsals, with all cars using intermediate tires, were stopped when Kevin Magnussen turned his Haas into Acqua Minerale. Verstappen, meanwhile, had a brief grassy moment on his lap.
After the reboot, Leclerc set the bar at 1m18.778s, 0.02s faster than Verstappen.
Verstappen then grabbed the lead with 1m27.999s, 0.779s faster than Leclerc, although he was forced to pull for Valteri Botas, who stopped in the last sector in front of him, causing a new red flag. Verstappen entered the gravel on his next lap just as the red flag came out.
The session resumed three minutes later, but it was still raining while Botas’ car was taken out.
So Verstappen and Leclerc will be in the front row, ahead of Norris (who went to Aqua Minerale to stop qualifying again) and Magnussen.
Fernando Alonso of Alpine will start the sprint fifth, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Perez, Botas, Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) and Sainz.
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