Max claims pole for Imola sprint: 'It was tricky today'

Published on 22 April 2022 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen clinched pole position for the Emilia Romagna sprint race on Saturday. In a frantic and incident-heavy session, the Dutchman clocked the fastest time ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

“It was difficult today”, said Max after qualifying. “It was wet, then dry, then wet again. It was very slippery and tricky to get the tyres in the right window. It was a hectic and long qualifying. I’m happy to be here, it’s a great circuit which will punish you when you make a mistake. That’s what we want. I’m very happy with this pole position.”

Looking forward to Saturday’s sprint, Max said: “Tomorrow will be different in terms of the weather, but today was a good start of the weekend.

Ahead of qualifying, race control announce that DRS will not be used during the session, following the changeable and cool track conditions.

At the start of Q1, most drivers head out on the intermediate Pirelli tyres. Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll, both Aston Martin, and the two Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu opt for slicks.

Before most drivers make the switch to the soft tyres, the session is red flagged following Alex Albon’s right rear suspension exploding as a result of a brake failure.

After the marshals clear the debris, the session is resumed, and the track is dry enough for slicks. Throughout the remainder of the first qualifying segment, the lap times tumble with the Ferraris leading the way at the front. At the back, the two Williams (Nicolas Latifi and Albon), the two Alpha Tauris (Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine) fail to progress past Q1.

At the start of Q2, the drivers are informed that more rain is to be expected so the teams are keen for their drivers to get a banker lap in. Max sets the fastest lap, but soon after, the red flag is once again waved. Carlos Sainz planted his Ferrari in the wall at the last corner.

When the session is resumed, heavy rain is falling on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, resulting in the teams not sending their drivers back out for the remainder of this qualifying segment. It means that both Mercedes, Mick Schumacher, Zhou Guanyu and Lance Stroll strand in Q2.

Q3 starts wet, but it’s not raining enough for full wets. The nine remaining drivers all head out on inters. The conditions remain treacherous with Max making a small excursion through the grass on his warm-up lap. Soon after, Kevin Magnussen dips a wheel on the white line into Aqua Minerali which sends his Haas spinning towards the barriers. With equal measures of skill and luck, the Dane manages the keep his car out of the barriers and he is able to make his way back to the pits. Nevertheless, race control wave the red flag and the session is temporarily halted.

A few minutes later, Q3 resumes, and Leclerc lays down a marker with his first flying lap. In his attempt to retaliate, Max comes up two hundredths short. On his next lap he ups the pace when his effort is interrupted by yellow flags caused by Valtteri Bottas, who parked his car in the gravel traps. Despite having to lift off, Max is able to finish his lap an take provisional pole, just before the session is red flagged, enabling the marshals to salvage the stricken Alfa Romeo.

With three minutes to go, the session is once again resumed with Max exiting the pit lane first. With limited time remaining it looks like the battle for pole will be decided by a final flying lap. However, Lando Norris beaching his McLaren on his out lap leads to another red flag, signalling the end of qualifying and securing Max’ pole position.

Contest GP Emilia Romagna: win a 1:43 Max Verstappen Imola 2021 scale model

Results qualifying Emilia-romagna: