Verstappen charges back after slow start to win Imola Sprint race, earns pole for GP; Leclerc relegated to P2 after late pass; Perez recovers for P3
Formula 1’s somewhat gimmicky Sprint Race to determine the race day starting grid returned for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Saturday. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen recovered from a slow getaway at the start of this 21-lap mini-race, and eventually hunted down and passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with two to go to take the win and earn pole for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. After an interminable, rain-effected three rounds of standard knockout qualifying on Friday, which saw five Red Flag stoppages due the greasy conditions catching drivers out, the bright and sunny Sprint Saturday was at least entertaining, with good wheel-to-wheel combat up and down the field to change around the initial “qualifying” results and set tomorrow’s starting order for real. Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, was able to greatly improve on his qualifying effort of P7 to take P3 in the Sprint, while Leclerc’s stablemate Carlos Sainz recovered from another unforced error that saw the Spaniard bin his Prancing Horse in Q2 in the damp on Friday and claw his way all the back to a P4 finish on Saturday. The mixed Red Bull-Ferrari front two rows provide a mouth-watering prospect for tomorrow’s opening lap, especially should rain return to Imola
McLaren had a very good day, albeit with Lando Norris losing two spots off his quali result and coming home in P5 and Daniel Ricciardo finishing where he started the Sprint in P6, which honestly seems to be where those two cars should be at this track. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas had a nice effort to take 7 and Haas had a beautiful day in northern Italy, with Kevin Magnussen continuing his run of good form since being drafted back into the team taking P8 and teammate Mick Schumacher earning his highest ever F1 grid position in P10. Alpine’s wily old veteran Fernando Alonso filled out the Top 10 of the Saturday Sprint coming home in P9. On the glass-half-empty side of the ledger, alarm bells must be ringing at the Brackley headquarters of mighty Mercedes, as the severe porpoising that has bedeviled them from the very beginning of this year’s new ground effects-dependent formula returned with a vengeance at Imola. This race could well be a write off for the Silver Arrows — George Russell only managed a P11 finish on the day, while seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was an astonishingly poor P14 when the checkers flew to end the Sprint. Four rounds into the 2022 campaign it’s beginning to look like by the time Mercedes figure out their aerodynamic woes it will be well and truly too late to compete for either title.
Here’s how the Top 10 qualified on Friday:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:19.295 | 1:18.793 | 1:27.999 | |
| 2 | 1:18.796 | 1:19.584 | 1:28.778 | |
| 3 | 1:20.168 | 1:19.294 | 1:29.131 | |
| 4 | 1:20.147 | 1:19.902 | 1:29.164 | |
| 5 | 1:20.198 | 1:19.595 | 1:29.202 | |
| 6 | 1:19.980 | 1:20.031 | 1:29.742 | |
| 7 | 1:19.773 | 1:19.296 | 1:29.808 | |
| 8 | 1:20.419 | 1:20.192 | 1:30.439 | |
| 9 | 1:20.364 | 1:19.957 | 1:31.062 | |
| 10 | 1:19.305 | 1:18.990 |
And here are the results for the Top 10 finishers of the Sprint Race on Saturday:
| POS | DRIVER | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30:39.567 | 8 | |
| 2 | +2.975s | 7 | |
| 3 | +4.721s | 6 | |
| 4 | +17.578s | 5 | |
| 5 | +24.561s | 4 | |
| 6 | +27.740s | 3 | |
| 7 | +28.133s | 2 | |
| 8 | +30.712s | 1 | |
| 9 | +32.278s | 0 | |
| 10 | +33.773s | 0 |
Complete qualifying & Sprint results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how the elite Ferrari-Red Bull battle plays out in the Scuderia’s back yard — and if more more rain might throw a wrench into the teams’ best laid plans!