Valtteri Bottas produced a brilliant final lap to beat teammate Lewis Hamilton and secure pole for Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Finn was a little off the pace in practice and also faced some unexpected pressure in Q1, but he would gradually improve across the session and found just enough to become Formula 1’s first polesitter at Imola in 14 years.
Hamilton had to settle for second, with Max Verstappen making it the usual trio in the top three.
Q1
Hamilton topped the timesheets by four-tenths, as Bottas recovered from traffic and a track limits violation on his first run to claim P2 on a second set of tyres.
Alex Albon also needed a second run to secure a Q2 place after his initial best time was deleted for running too wide at Piratella.
In the battle to avoid elimination, George Russell made it through in 14th as the bottom five consisted of Haas, Alfa Romeo and Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi.
Romain Grosjean was the first car knocked out in 16th, 0.021s ahead of Kevin Magnussen, who went off at Rivazza 2 on his final attempt.
Kimi Raikkonen briefly looked to have made Q2 before his final lap time was deleted, dropping the Finn to 18th.
Latifi was 19th and Antonio Giovinazzi will start his third and final home race of the season at the back of the grid.
Q2
Bottas upped the pace to lead Hamilton by half a tenth as Mercedes opted for the medium tyre to start the race.
Red Bull had a problematic session with Verstappen suffering an engine issue on his first timed lap, causing a frantic rush to repair it.
? “Yeah mate no power… it’s not ****** working”
Trouble for Verstappen, he’s yet to set a time in Q2#ImolaGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/6IkSas1JbT
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 31, 2020
Albon was also left facing elimination in 11th, not helped by a spin at the Variante Alta.
There was nothing to worry about, however, as the Dutchman’s car was fixed and he claimed P6 on the medium tyre, while Albon moved up to fourth on the softs.
Instead, the surprise of Q2 was Racing Point, with Sergio Perez 11th and Lance Stroll 15th.
Esteban Ocon was 12th, as Russell managed an impressive 13th for Williams, beating Sebastian Vettel for the second straight weekend.
Q3
In the fight for pole, it was advantage Hamilton by just 0.031s after the first run, despite quite a scruffy lap which involved running wide at Variante Alta and the Rivazzas.
Verstappen would be seven-tenths down in third for Red Bull, with Pierre Gasly putting his AlphaTauri in an impressive fourth.
The final attempts saw Hamilton improve but not by enough as Bottas would find more to pip his teammate by a tenth of a second and claim his fourth pole of the season.
Verstappen consolidated third and Gasly also secured his best qualifying result of the season in fourth.
The Frenchman headed a very tight midfield as two-tenths covered him to teammate Daniil Kvyat in eighth.
Daniel Ricciardo improved late to take fifth ahead of Albon in sixth, who had his first lap deleted again for track limits.
Charles Leclerc was a solid seventh for Ferrari, as the aforementioned Kvyat led to the two McLaren’s with Lando Norris ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Full results from qualifying can be seen below:
