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Formula 1 Emilia Romagna GP

Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton takes pole in Imola F1

Lewis Hamilton took his 99th Formula 1 pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola for Mercedes on Saturday, the second round of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season.

Charles Bradley

Charles Bradley

Edited: Apr 17, 2021, 6:41 PM

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Hamilton will start ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

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Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton on pole from Perez

Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap 1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'14.411   2 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'14.446 0.035 3 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'14.498 0.087 4 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'14.740 0.329 5 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'14.790 0.379 6 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'14.826 0.415 7 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 1'14.875 0.464 8 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1'14.898 0.487 9 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'15.210 0.799 10 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin     11 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1'15.199 0.788 12 United Kingdom George Russell Williams 1'15.261 0.850 13 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1'15.394 0.983 14 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 1'15.593 1.182 15 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'15.593 1.182 16 Finland Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1'15.974 1.563 17 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1'16.122 1.711 18 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 1'16.279 1.868 19 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin Haas 1'16.797 2.386 20 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri     View full results

What happened in Q1?

In the first session, when all cars were on track together, Lance Stroll set the early pace for Aston Martin at 1m16.082s but an early red flag was required for Yuki Tsunoda, who piled his AlphaTauri backwards into the tyrewall at Variante Alta.

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The session restarted with 12 minutes remaining on the clock, with 15 cars yet to set a time. Verstappen took over at the top with 1m15.109s but Bottas dipped into the 1m14s bracket with 1m14.926s and then 1m14.672s on his second push lap, with Hamilton making it a Merc 1-2.

Falling at the first hurdle were the Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, and the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin (who caused an angry Giovinazzi to abort his final run), along with the sidelined Tsuonda.

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Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Q1 results: Bottas fastest from Hamilton

Cla Driver   Laps Time Gap 1 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes F1 W12 EQ Power+ 9 1'14.672   2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W12 EQ Power+ 10 1'14.823 0.151 3 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL35M 6 1'15.009 0.337 4 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda RB16B 6 1'15.109 0.437 5 France Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault A521 8 1'15.385 0.713 6 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing-Honda RB16B 6 1'15.395 0.723 7 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari SF21 10 1'15.406 0.734 8 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF21 7 1'15.413 0.741 9 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR21 8 1'15.459 0.787 10 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR21 8 1'15.522 0.850 11 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda AT02 7 1'15.548 0.876 12 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes FW43B 8 1'15.653 0.981 13 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes MCL35M 9 1'15.669 0.997 14 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes FW43B 10 1'15.826 1.154 15 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault A521 8 1'15.832 1.160 16 Finland Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari C41 10 1'15.974 1.302 17 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari C41 9 1'16.122 1.450 18 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari VF-21 12 1'16.279 1.607 19 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin Haas-Ferrari VF-21 12 1'16.797 2.125 20 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Honda AT02 2     View full results

What happened in Q2?

In Q2, the pole position-hunting protagonists ran on the medium tyre – as each car will start on the rubber used in this session. On the first runs, Hamilton set the benchmark at 1m14.817s, 0.067s quicker than Verstappen.

McLaren’s Lando Norris went straight for the softs, zooming straight to the top on 1m14.718s.  Red Bull’s Sergio Perez ran on a second set of softs, producing 1m14.716s to end the session in P1.

Knocked out at this point were Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, whose scruffy final lap cost him a place in Q3, George Russell (Williams), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Nicholas Latifi (Williams) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine).

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Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Q2 results: Perez fastest from Norris

Cla Driver   Laps Time Gap 1 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing-Honda RB16B 12 1'14.716   2 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL35M 9 1'14.718 0.002 3 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF21 13 1'14.808 0.092 4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W12 EQ Power+ 17 1'14.817 0.101 5 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda RB16B 14 1'14.884 0.168 6 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes F1 W12 EQ Power+ 16 1'14.905 0.189 7 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda AT02 15 1'14.927 0.211 8 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes MCL35M 15 1'15.033 0.317 9 France Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault A521 14 1'15.117 0.401 10 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR21 14 1'15.138 0.422 11 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari SF21 16 1'15.199 0.483 12 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes FW43B 16 1'15.261 0.545 13 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR21 14 1'15.394 0.678 14 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes FW43B 14 1'15.593 0.877 15 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault A521 14 1'15.593 0.877 View full results

What happened in Q3?

In the top-10 shootout, Hamilton set the bar at 1m14.411s, 0.091s ahead of Verstappen – who had a poor first sector but was fastest in the other two. Perez was third after his first run, a quarter of a second off the pace, with Bottas down in sixth – behind Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – after a big slide at the Tamburello chicane.

On the final runs, Hamilton just failed to improve, while Norris lit up the timing screens with a fantastic lap that put him second to Hamilton by 0.043s – but lost the time due to exceeding track limits.

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Perez then went P2, 0.035s off pole, with Verstappen only third – 0.087s slower than the fastest time after he ran onto the grass exiting Tamburello. Leclerc took fourth, ahead of Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), the unlucky Norris, the surprisingly tardy Bottas (who was on pole here last year but said he couldn't trust the rear end of his car this time), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Stroll.

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Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Q3 results: Hamilton fastest from Perez

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap 1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 6 1'14.411   2 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 6 1'14.446 0.035 3 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 6 1'14.498 0.087 4 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 6 1'14.740 0.329 5 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 6 1'14.790 0.379 6 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 6 1'14.826 0.415 7 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 6 1'14.875 0.464 8 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 6 1'14.898 0.487 9 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 6 1'15.210 0.799 10 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 6     View full results

 

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