Max Verstappen beat Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. The Red Bull driver was able to set a lap time less than a tenth of a second faster than the McLarens behind.
In doing so, the Dutchman matches Alain Prost’s record to seven consecutive poles to start a season, with the Frenchman reaching that mark for a run between the season-opening South African Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix in 1993.
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will be disappointed to start in fourth and fifth, after a weekend that has offered much hope of a step forward.
The rest of the top 10 went Mercedes, RB, Mercedes, RB, with Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the group.
Sergio Perez succumbed to a Q2 exit, as his qualifying woes returned on a difficult weekend for his team. The Red Bull driver could not get the better of Daniel Ricciardo, who got through to Q3 in tenth. The Mexican will start the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in P11.
Fernando Alonso was the shock elimination from Q1. The Aston Martin driver continued his messy Saturday – after his FP3 red flag incident – with another mistake in qualifying, going wide and finding the gravel.
After having to abort that lap, he was in the pits when the rest of the pack set their final times – following Logan Sargeant’s lap time deletion, the Spaniard will line up in P19.