Emilia Romagna GP: Hard fought Qualifying in Imola

After a close qualifying, George and Lewis start the race from 6th and 8th on the grid.

The day began as usual on Saturday with the third free practice session at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. After a quiet start, however, the third session of the weekend became hectic as two crashes compromised the session.

Next up was qualifying. In sunshine and slightly cooler temperatures than in practice, both drivers made it into the top 10. After a very close Q3, George and Lewis will start the Emilia Romagna GP on Sunday afternoon from sixth and eight on the grid.

Lewis and George started their first attempt in Q3 on used tyres. George ended up in P6 with a small mistake in turn 7, Lewis in P8. For the final run, the Mercedes duo put on the new set of Soft tyres. George missed out on P5 by a millisecond and starts P6. Lewis had some difficulties on his final lap and lines up P8.

Our drivers started Q2 on the used Soft tyres from the end of Q1. After the first run, Lewis and George were separated by just three thousandths. Both had to improve on their final attempt, as the entire field was extremely tight. The team started their second and final attempt with a new set of tyres. Mission accomplished: P8 for George as well as P9 for Lewis - both drivers made it into the top 10.

Due to the short lap of 4.909 kilometres, three attempts per driver were in theory possible in Q1. George started on the Medium tyre, Lewis on the Soft. Lewis' first lap was a good start, while George aborted his first flying lap to also switch to the softer compound. With the Soft tyre, he puts himself up front. Despite the high track evolution, the Mercedes duo was able to abort their final attempt. George went through to Q2 in P10, Lewis in P15.

Imola: Everything You Need To Know

Frantic FP3 characterised by two red flags

Two red flags interrupted the final practice session in Imola. Firstly, Fernando Alonso crashed into the wall in T18 after just under 20 minutes, causing an interruption. Shortly before the end of the session, Sergio Perez crashed at Turn 15, causing the second red flag of the day.

In both cases, our drivers were just out on track, with their respective runs on a fresh set of Soft tyres compromised. George was able to improve on his final attempt and finished the session in P5, but Lewis was unable to start his lap before the red flag and therefore finished in P17.

So there were still some question marks over the balance of power ahead of qualifying. Qualifying plays an even greater role in Imola, as the track is very narrow, which makes overtaking very difficult. In addition, the low tyre degradation will probably lead to a one-stop race, which makes a good grid position all the more important.

The team now has time overnight to analyse the data and prepare for the Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. The seventh race of the season starts at 15:00 local time (14:00 UK time).

George Russell

I was very happy with my final effort in Q3. It was a really strong lap and overall, it was a good session from my point of view. It is obviously annoying when you are one millisecond behind one of your competitors, but I think that was the maximum we had today. I think P6 is therefore a fair result. It is very difficult to pass here so unfortunately, I’m not forecasting lots of overtakes tomorrow. I hope to be proven wrong though and we can gain some positions.

The car is feeling much better than it has done in recent races. Of course it is all about lap times, so we just need to keep working away and improving. We’ve seen how others have progressed and that gives us encouragement.

Lewis Hamilton

The car felt really good on Friday but today, I was struggling to find that same level of grip. It was frustrating and I think the small changes we made going into Qualifying had quite a big impact. George did a great job though and for him to be only four tenths off pole is clearly a good step forward for us. Unfortunately I was just lacking some pace so couldn’t quite match that.

Tomorrow we are likely looking at trying to make up a few positions. We will do some work tonight to see if we can improve anything but it’s very hard to overtake here so, unless something out of the ordinary happens, we will only be able to make small gains.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

When you look at the gap to the front, and our closest competitors around us, you can see progress. P6 and P8 are not the positions we want to be. We’ve been saying that for a while, but we can see the advantage others have closing. It takes time to do that, so we must be patient and that’s the reality at the moment.

We know we have developments in the pipeline that will improve the balance of the car. Even though our positions today are not good enough, we are pointing in the right direction. Tomorrow, we will be focused on maximising the package we currently have and aiming to score some decent points.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We've worked hard to try and close the gap to the front over the last few races. Encouragingly, there are signs we're making progress, but we know we’ve still got a long way to go. Neither driver had two new sets of the Soft tyre left by Q3. This may have cost each a place on tomorrow's grid when you look at how close the gaps are to the cars ahead. Ultimately though, P6 and P8 are about where our current pace is. It is encouraging that the car’s balance around the lap has been improved this weekend.

We will now have to wait and see where the pace falls out in the race tomorrow. There did look to be some tyre degradation on Friday, so that should help create some opportunity. It is difficult to overtake here at Imola though so it will likely take some good fortune for us to be challenging for the podium spots.

2024 Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying Result

1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:14.746	-
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:14.820	0.074
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:14.837	0.091
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:14.970	0.224
5	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:15.233	0.487
6	George Russell	Mercedes-AMG	1:15.234	0.488
7	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	1:15.465	0.719
8	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG	1:15.504	0.758
9	Daniel Ricciardo	Racing Bulls	1:15.674	0.928
10	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas	1:15.980	1.234
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	1:15.706	0.960
12	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:15.906	1.160
13	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:15.992	1.246
14	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:16.200	1.454
15	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:16.381	1.635
16	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	1:16.626	1.880
17	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	1:16.834	2.088
18	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:16.854	2.108
19	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:16.917	2.171
20	Logan Sargeant	Williams	No time set

2024 Emilia Romagna GP FP3 Result

1	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:15.529	15
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:15.829	15
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:16.067	22
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:16.087	20
5	George Russell	Mercedes-AMG	1:16.095	16
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:16.366	21
7	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:16.470	14
8	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:16.481	19
9	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:16.543	24
10	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas	1:16.547	15
11	Daniel Ricciardo	Racing Bulls	1:16.560	15
12	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	1:16.631	18
13	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	1:16.668	14
14	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	1:16.695	15
15	Logan Sargeant	Williams	1:16.794	16
16	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:16.923	12
17	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG	1:16.960	16
18	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:17.339	10
19	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:17.361	17
20	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	1:17.891	15

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