GP Qualifying: Verstappen grabs unexpected pole position in Imola ahead of Piastri and Norris

Red Bull Racing/Red Bull Content Pool

IMOLA, Italy -- Max Verstappen has continued his impressive run of pole positions by securing P1 on the grid for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The Dutch driver triumphed over his rivals with an unbeatable lap in Q3 at Imola.

Check out the results of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend in Italy, including the race results, qualifying times, and practice sessions

Verstappen set a strong benchmark early in Q3 and improved further during his final run, clocking a time of 1m 14.746s in his Red Bull. This put him 0.074 seconds ahead of second-placed Oscar Piastri, who was later handed a three-place grid penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix for impeding Kevin Magnussen's Haas in Q1. Piastri’s McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, rounded out the top three.

Charles Leclerc was the best-placed Ferrari in fourth, with teammate Carlos Sainz in fifth, as the Scuderia struggled to match their early weekend pace. George Russell finished sixth for Mercedes, while Yuki Tsunoda took an impressive seventh place for RB.

Lewis Hamilton secured P8 for Mercedes, followed by RB’s Daniel Ricciardo in P9 and Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas in P10.

A surprise came in Q2 when Sergio Perez failed to improve on his final lap, relegating the Red Bull driver to P11. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) also did not progress to Q3.

Alex Albon was the leading Williams in 14th, with Pierre Gasly just behind in 15th for Alpine.

The Kick Sauber drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, were eliminated in Q1, finishing 16th and 17th respectively. Magnussen took P18, and Piastri is under investigation for potentially impeding his final flying lap.

Fernando Alonso caused a major surprise by finishing in P19, with Logan Sargeant's Williams in P20 after his original qualifying lap, which placed him in P17, was deleted for exceeding track limits.

The stage is set for an exciting race, with Verstappen aiming to extend his dominance from pole position.

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