Bottas wrests pole from Hamilton at Imola; Verstappen takes P3 after rebounding from engine troubles
A week after Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton set the record for most Formula 1 wins his overshadowed wingman Valterri Bottas knocked the English legend down a peg some small measure by snatching pole from the six-time champion and current points leader during Saturday qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. As F1 returned to the fateful Imola circuit, aka Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, for the first time since 2006 and Italy for the third time this season, Bottas set a blistering final lap of 1:13.609 at a circuit he has never raced at in anger before, bettering Hamilton’s already excellent time by a tenth as the checkers flew. While Hamilton has a stranglehold on this year’s title and is essentially a mortal lock to rack up his record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship to match the great Michael Schumacher after passing the German legend in wins last week in Portugal, Bottas remains mathematically alive and anytime he can better his intimidating teammate can only be good for the Finn’s psyche. Whether this pole position translates into a win tomorrow is another matter, of course, but Hamilton could be facing a mental letdown after such a historic win last weekend so we shall see who has the edge when the lights go out for Sunday’s GP.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified third nearly half a second behind Hamilton’s P2 Merc. Still, the Dutchman was fairly fortunate to even make it into Q3 after a rare spark plug issue caused a scramble by his mechanics to fix the misfire during Q2 when Verstappen hadn’t yet set a time. The remarkable Red Bull crew, who routinely have the fastest pit stops during the races, came through again with flying colors, enabling their man Max to set a lap quick enough to get through to the final quali session and then set the third best time overall. Teammate Alexander Albon had a bit of a ragged day struggling with rather strict track limits but rallied well enough to qualify P6 in then end. However, the deficit between the Red Bulls and the Mercedes, at least in terms of one-lap pace, bodes ill for a truly completive race tomorrow. On the other hand, Red Bull could face pressure from AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who pulled out a corker of a final lap to qualify P4 just a little over three-tenths behind Verstappen. Gasly, who has already won a race this year in Italy at Monza, could add to his splendid season by taking away a podium from his former team at Imola. By comparison, Gasly’s AlphaTauri teammate Daniil Kvyat qualified a distant P8.
Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo took the fifth spot on the grid, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will be the sole Prancing Horse starting in the top 10 at P7. The McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz qualified P9 and P10 respectively.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Emilia Romagna GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:14.221 | 1:14.585 | 1:13.609 | |
| 2 | 1:14.229 | 1:14.643 | 1:13.706 | |
| 3 | 1:15.034 | 1:14.974 | 1:14.176 | |
| 4 | 1:15.183 | 1:14.681 | 1:14.502 | |
| 5 | 1:15.474 | 1:14.953 | 1:14.520 | |
| 6 | 1:15.402 | 1:14.745 | 1:14.572 | |
| 7 | 1:15.123 | 1:15.017 | 1:14.616 | |
| 8 | 1:15.412 | 1:15.022 | 1:14.696 | |
| 9 | 1:15.274 | 1:15.051 | 1:14.814 | |
| 10 | 1:15.528 | 1:15.027 | 1:14.911 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Look for a fierce internecine battle between the two Silver Arrows, an interesting potential podium duel between Verstappen and the hard-charging Gasly and then a lot of fierce competition in the midfield for precious positions and points. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!