Motorsport News

Max Verstappen Equals Ayrton Senna Record with Pole in Imola

F1 Grand Prix Of Emilia Romagna Qualifying

Max Verstappen took a record-matching eighth consecutive pole during Saturday’s (May 18) qualifying for the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Verstappen was followed on the charts by McLaren sophomore Oscar Piastri, with Piastri’s teammate and F1’s newest race winner, Lando Norris, coming in third.

“A really difficult weekend so far, even this morning,” “So I’m incredibly happy to be on pole here, I didn’t expect that. But we made some final changes before qualifying and they seemed to make it feel a bit better, I could push a bit harder. And this track is unbelievable … I’m still pumping, the adrenaline is very high.”

“It’s of course a great start to the year, but also very special,” Verstappen said when asked what it meant to match legend Ayrton Senna’s record of eight consecutive poles. “It’s 30 years since he passed away at this track, so of course I’m very pleased to get pole here and in a way, it’s a nice memory to him. He was an incredible Formula 1 driver, especially in qualifying laps.”

Like the rest of the day, the top-10 shootout was a clean session with no major on-track incidents.

Q3

Q2

Q1

Piastri and Magnussen made up the only incident of note for the day when the McLaren driver appeared to impede Magnussen on a fast lap. However, no action was taken against the Australian.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will begin Sunday, May 19, at 9 a.m. ET with coverage on ESPN.


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