This Imola F1 qualifying was exciting. From Tsunoda crashing to the McLaren showing off their power. Hamilton is on pole position for tomorrow’s race, with Perez in second place completing the front row. This will be the first time since Ricciardo’s departure from Red Bull where Verstappen, who qualified third, will be starting behind his teammate.
“Too Excited” Yuki
Yuki Tsunoda, the rookie-star of this season who finished in P9 in Bahrain (becoming the 65th driver to score points on their debut), crashed this afternoon in Q1. The crash prompted a red flag, stopping the session while the marshals cleared the heavily beaten AlphaTauri AT02 off the track.
In a post-factum interview, Yuki explained he was “too excited” before the race, which most likely caused his mistake.
“I was just too excited. For me, that was a silly mistake, so I feel really sorry for the team. You have to reset today, and just drive the race tomorrow.”
The AlphaTauri team will now be rushing to get the car ready for tomorrow’s race, which is now less than 19 hours away from starting.
“It looked pretty bad actually, what I saw at the back [of the car],” Tsunoda continued. “I really hope the car is repaired properly tomorrow. Just feel sorry for the team today.”
Tsunoda has not suffered any injuries from the accident, and was able to get out of the car himself.
Flying McLarens
In Q2 and Q3, we really saw the McLaren of Lando Norris being pushed to its limits. The hard work of the team over the winter to adapt their car to the Mercedes power unit, as well as the new regulations, paid off as Lando nearly took P3 for tomorrow’s race.
Unfortunately for him, he ran too wide at the Piratella turn, thus his lap time was deleted. This will hopefully not put him off tomorrow’s race, as the car obviously has the pace to not only compete at the top of the mid field but also potentially for podiums.
Ricciardo did not have as much luck as Lando did. While he out-qualified Norris today, this was only due to Lando’s lap time being deleted, and Ricciardo never came close to the same time that Norris put in. This may still be due to Daniel getting adjusted to the MCL35M, and may not be completely confident.
Red Bull’s Disappointment
While Red Bull gained P2 and P3 for tomorrow’s race, allowing them to fight Hamilton during tomorrow’s race, it was obvious Red Bull were disappointed with the result. Verstappen also didn’t help himself, as he ran slightly wide at Turn 3, causing him to gently go over the grass. Most likely this cost him precious time and placed him behind Sergio Perez.
This is the first time Verstappen has been out-qualified by a teammate (not counting any penalties) since Daniel Ricciardo was at the Red Bull team. It is expected that Red Bull will be pleased with this, as it means they have finally got a competitive second driver that can put pressure on Mercedes, and deliver the World Championship they so desperately want.
That’s not to say, though, that Perez is completely comfortable in the RB16B. During Q2, he went out on soft tyres, while his teammate Verstappen went with mediums instead. This could either be due to Perez’s confidence in the car or simply a different strategy that Red Bull can try.
Beginning of the End for Williams?
Perhaps the most surprising, satisfying and important thing all at the same time that happened during this qualifying, was both Williams drivers getting into Q2. This will mean the world for the recovering team, who are wanting to look past 2019 and 2020 as quickly as possible.
Williams have recently announced a new technical director, and the new owners Dorilton Capital seem to be pouring more resources into the team. Hopefully, for Williams, this will mean the end of their struggles.
Imola F1 Qualifying – Results
You can see the complete provisional qualifying order below. This may not be final, as penalties could be awarded if teams decide to swap parts, for example.
P1 | Lewis HAMILTON | 1:14.411 |
P2 | Sergio PEREZ | 1:14.446 |
P3 | Max VERSTAPPEN | 1:14.498 |
P4 | Charles LECLERC | 1:14.740 |
P5 | Pierre GASLY | 1:14.790 |
P6 | Daniel RICCIARDO | 1:14.826 |
P7 | Lando NORRIS | 1:14.875 |
P8 | Valtteri BOTTAS | 1:14.898 |
P9 | Esteban OCON | 1:15.210 |
P10 | Lance STROLL | 1:15.138 (DNF Q3) |
P11 | Carlos SAINZ | 1:15.199 |
P12 | George RUSSELL | 1:15.261 |
P13 | Sebastian VETTEL | 1:15.394 |
P14 | Nicholas LATIFI | 1:15.593 |
P15 | Fernando ALONSO | 1:15.593 |
P16 | Kimi RAIKKONEN | 1:15.974 |
P17 | Antonio GIOVINAZZI | 1:16.122 |
P18 | Mick SCHUMACHER | 1:16.279 |
P19 | Nikita MAZEPIN | 1:16.797 |
P20 | Yuki TSUNODA | DNF |
Cover Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
