Hamilton Edges Out Perez For Imola Pole

Calum Gill 15:42 17/04/2021

Lewis Hamilton will be on pole for tomorrow's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, edging out Sergio Perez for top grid spot.

Hamilton was just 0.035 seconds clear in the Mercedes as Mexican Perez, in only his second race for Red Bull, beat team-mate Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc put the Ferrari fourth, while Valtteri Bottas was only eighth in the second Mercedes.

McLaren's Lando Norris had his fastest lap time deleted for exceeding track limits and fell from second to seventh. It was a bitter blow for the Englishman, who had looked fast all session and appeared to have a chance of qualifying among the Mercedes and Red Bulls. He was no more than a foot outside the track at the fast Piratella left-hander, where countless drivers have had lap times deleted through the weekend.

-Full weekend results

Hamilton's pole marked a significant shift in fortunes at the front since the first race of the season, when the Red Bull was clearly the quickest car and Verstappen was on pole by 0.4secs.

Mercedes have looked much more at home around the sweeps of Imola and technical director James Allison had already said on Friday that the car was "in a much happier place".

But the relative pace of the two Mercedes drivers will raise questions as to whether this pole was predominantly down to an exceptional performance from Hamilton, who took his 99th career pole. Team-mate Bottas was 0.487secs slower than the seven-time champion and faces a long and difficult race on Sunday from eighth place.

A Missed Chance For Lando

Norris was the stand-out star of qualifying until his costly error on his final lap. He was third fastest in the first session and improved one place in the second, and was a genuine contender for the front row. But the track limits infringement means he starts a disappointed seventh, just behind team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who had lagged well off his pace all weekend.

Leclerc was again outstanding in the Ferrari, 0.5secs quicker than team-mate Carlos Sainz in second qualifying as the Spaniard was knocked out in that session and just 0.331secs off Hamilton's pole on his final run.

Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly repeated his excellent qualifying position of Bahrain in fifth place, while behind the McLarens and Bottas, Esteban Ocon's Alpine and Lance Stroll's Aston Martin completed the top 10. Their illustrious team-mates lagged behind, Sebastian Vettel 13th in the Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso only 15th in the Alpine.

Alonso was beaten by both Williams cars, with George Russell taking an impressive 12th place and Nicholas Latifi, who had the edge on Russell until qualifying, in 14th. Yuki Tsunoda crashed out of the first session and will subsequently start last at his team's home race.

2021 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Qualifying Classification.