It was a close session which saw Lewis Hamilton take pole position by less than a tenth over an incredible effort from Sergio Perez, who outqualified his team-mate in only his second weekend for the team. Max Verstappen made a mistake at the first chicane which no doubt cost him pole, despite being third he was still less than a tenth off the top spot.
Charles Leclerc qualified in fourth, underlining the improved pace of the Ferrari ahead of Pierre Gasly, who once again showed the pace of a fast AlphaTauri. Daniel Ricciardo qualified in sixth ahead of Lando Norris, who initially got up to the front row with his lap but he lost it due to track limits. Valtteri Bottas had a shocker, qualifying down in eighth after a mistake on his laps, ahead of Esteban Ocon in ninth, and Lance Stroll rounds out the top 10 having had both his Q3 laps deleted.
Carlos Sainz was gutted to just miss out on Q3, ahead of George Russell, who pulled off one of the best performances of his career but was disappointed not to get into Q3. It was another disappointment for Sebastian Vettel who qualified in thirteenth ahead of Nicholas Latifi, who completed a great qualifying for Williams. Whilst Fernando Alonso had a disappointment, qualifying in fifteenth.
The two Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi both fell in Q1, ahead of the two Haas’s of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. Whilst Yuki Tsunoda will be wondering what could’ve been after he crashed at the Variante Alta in the early part of the session, destroying the rear end of his car.
Here is the result of qualifying at Imola.
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