F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: Max Verstappen takes pole for sprint
22nd April 2022Reigning world champion, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured pole position for Saturday’s sprint race in a red flag-filled qualifying session, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
How qualifying unfolded…
Q1
As soon as the pit exit light went green, to start qualifying’s first third, a handful of cars bolted into life as both Mercedes cars opted for the green-ringed intermediate tyres while the Alfa Romeo drivers went out on the red-ringed, soft compounds.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to set a lap time with a 1:27.214 and his teammate, George Russell, quickly followed but couldn’t top the seven-time world champion. However, the dry line – which had formed with help from Formula 3 – showcased the soft tyre was the optimal tyre to be on.
The session was quickly red flagged as Williams’ Alexander Albon was seen to drive around turn 12 with his rear-right brake duct on fire. The Williams driver managed to return to the pit lane but he had left an ample amount of debris on the track.
Prior to the red flag, Verstappen was one of the front runners who set his first time on the intermediate tyres. As the session was green-flagged once again, with just over 12 minutes left on the clock, a queue had built at the pit exit as the field waited for the light to go green.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll topped the timing board with a 1:22.556, temporarily securing his top position as he claimed the top spot before the red flag stoppage. However, it wasn’t long before this team was beaten.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz secured the fastest lap of the session, with seven minutes to go, with a quick 1:20.319. By the end of the first qualifying third, Leclerc had topped the timing board with a 1:18.796, ahead of Verstappen and Sainz respectively.
However, Hamilton was almost knocked out of Q1 for a second time this season as the seven-time world champion pipped 16th-placed Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) by 0.004s.
Eliminated:
20.Alexander Albon, Williams
19. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
18. Nicholas Latifi, Williams
17. Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri
16. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri
Q2
As the pit exit light went green, to signal the start of Q2, the Ferrari Spaniard was the first driver to venture back out onto the track. However, Leclerc was warned to put in a single lap as rain was set to arrive fairly soon. Naturally, Sainz was the first to set a lap time and put a 1:18.990 lap for the remaining 15 drivers to beat.
Verstappen was the first driver to beat the Spaniard’s time with a 1.18.793 (0.197s faster). While both Mercedes’ laps were stuck in the knock-out zone with Russell P11 and Hamilton P13.
However, Sainz’s qualifying session ended prematurely as he lost his rear tyres into the final corner and spun around into the gravel trap. In the end, the Spaniard’s F1-75 skipped over the gravel and snapped its suspension as it made contact with the barrier. As a result, the red flag was quickly brought out.
As the rain began to fall, during the red flag stoppage, Russell, Mick Schumacher (Haas), Hamilton, Zhou, Stroll were at risk of being eliminated.
With 10 minutes on the clock, and as the rain dampened the track, only Leclerc, Vettel, Norris, Sergio Perez (Red Bull) Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) returned to the track.
Eliminated:
15. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
14. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo
13. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
12. Mick Schumacher, Haas
11 George Russell, Mercedes
Q3
As the pit exit light went green, Alonso led the remaining nine drivers out onto the damp Italian track. All the running drivers opted for the intermediates. However, for the third time today, the session was soon red flagged as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was on the edge of the gravel trap – and nearly into the barrier – on the exit of turn 12.
The Dane lost control as he drove into turn 12 but he managed to light up his rear tyres to keep his VF-22 out of the gravel trap. Fortuantely, Magnussen was able to return to the pit lane under his own power.
Before the red flag was brought out, Verstappen had topped the timing board to obtain provisional pole position ahead of tomorrows sprint race, followed by Norris and Perez respectively.
As the session resumed, Alonso looked to have a great lap but he temporarily lost control of his car as he ventured into turn 12 and had to back out. After he backed out of the lap, the two-time world champion only managed ninth – 12 seconds off pole.
However, Alonso’s and Perez’s time didn’t matter as their lap time were deleted for track limits.
Verstappen looked to put in a pole position lap, but he had to back out through the final sector as Bottas pulled off to the side of the track. As it stood, Verstappen held provisional pole ahead of Leclerc and Norris respectively.
As the session got back underway, Verstappen rushed to the end of the pit lane to obtain track position. When the pit exit light went green, Leclerc tried to get around Verstappen but the Dutch world champion blocked off the Monegasque’s access to overtake him on the exit.
However, for the fifth time in qualifying, another red flag was brought out as Norris found himself at the barrier on the exit of turn 12. In conclusion, this brought an end to qualifying ahead of Saturday’s sprint race.
Top 10:
10. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari (crashed out in Q2)
9. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin
8. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
7. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
6. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
5. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
4. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
3. Lando Norris, McLaren
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
That’s it for the article: F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: Max Verstappen takes pole for sprint! With the grid set for the sprint race, who will secure pole position for Sunday’s grand prix? Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.