Max Verstappen emerged victorious from wet and tricky qualifying on Friday, April 22, and will start from pole position in the Emilia-Romagna GP sprint race on Saturday. In conditions he loves, the Red Bull driver was faster than Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) between the five red flags that broke through the three sessions.
Verstappen signs his first pole of the season and the 14th of his career. The second row is occupied by Norris’ McLaren and Magnussen’s Haas. Both Mercedes had a nightmarish qualifying and only got past Q2.
It is not surprising that the circuit of Enzo and Dino Ferrari turned red. 90 km from Maranello, the stronghold of the Scuderia, the route of Emilia-Romagna could not be different. But in an intermittent and erratic rain, the red wasn’t just in the stands. The multiple incidents have indeed led to the raising of five red flags on the track, a record. In the midst of the chaos, Max Verstappen drifted, devilish on a wet track, a fine tactician and also very lucky to be able to drive an almost full lap without interruption.
Forced to slow down by a yellow flag, the Dutchman had enough margin to unseat Charles Leclerc. The Monegask was unable to answer as Lando Norris provided a final stoppage seconds before the end. However, Leclerc achieves a 4th front row start in as many qualifiers this season behind his designated rival for the title.
QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION #ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/bsxwHoXTAh
— Formula 1 (@F1) Apr 22, 2022
In this game of upheaval, the other big winners are Lando Norris and Kevin Magnussen. The latter offered Haas the best qualifying in its history and an explosive second row of the grid. As a great quarterback, Fernando Alonso placed his Alpine in 5th position.
Don’t look for the Mercedes, they are absent from the top 10 after a failure in Q2, a first since 2012. George Russell took just 11th, his teammate Lewis Hamilton 13th. The rain has a lot to do with it, but the German star has faded more and more since the start of the season…
Under pressure behind Leclerc, Carlos Sainz also suffered a premature stop by crashing into a wall in Q2, having set the second-best preliminary time of the session.
On the side of the tricolor pilots, it is also grimace soup. Pierre Gasly is 17th and Esteban Ocon 19th after a gearbox problem. For these Friday beats, the first of the three sprint races of the season is a great opportunity to get back on the GP grid on Sunday. Hamilton did it last November in Brazil, moving from 20th to 5th place. And this season, this special format earns points for the top eight.
