Max Verstappen will start Saturday’s sprint race from pole position after enduring a chaotic qualifying session at Imola.
The world champion set what turned out to be his quickest time under yellow flags when passing Valtteri Bottas’ stricken Alfa Romeo in the final sector, but clearly backed off while passing the scene of the danger before setting his time.
Championship leader Charles Leclerc will start alongside Verstappen on the front row of the grid for the sprint race, ahead of Lando Norris in third and Kevin Magnussen in fourth.
Carlos Sainz Jnr will start the sprint race no higher than 10th after crashing in Q2, while both Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will start from 11th and 13th, respectively.
Q1
The circuit was still damp as qualifying got underway around Imola, with many drivers choosing to play safe by taking to the track on intermediate tyres.
Quickly, it became clear that a true dry line was beginning to form, with Lewis Hamilton choosing to pit and switch onto the soft compound dry tyres. Lance Stroll had already made the transition in the Aston Martin, and used them to set the fastest time of the session, comfortably quicker than those using intermediates.
Alex Albon’s Williams suddenly began smoking with a large fire on his right-rear wheel. The brakes appeared to have ignited on Albon’s car, similar to a problem that had befallen his team mate Nicholas Latifi in the Bahrain pre-season test. A small explosion from the rear of the Williams showered the circuit with debris on the approach to the Variante Alta chicane, leading to the session being stopped for several minutes as the track was cleared.
Once the session restarted, times began to tumble. Carlos Sainz Jnr put Ferrari fastest of all, ahead of team mate Charles Leclerc, before Max Verstappen split the two Ferraris. Mick Schumacher almost lost control of his Haas out of the Variante Alta chicane, while Nicholas Latifi had a half-spin exiting the Villeneuve Chicane.
In the…