Lewis Hamilton claimed his 99th Formula 1 pole position with a brilliant lap in qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion set the benchmark on his first lap in Q3, and it proved just enough to hold off the two Red Bull drivers as the top three finished a mere 0.087s apart.
However, it won’t be Max Verstappen starting alongside Hamilton, instead, it will be Sergio Perez after the Mexican produced a stellar final lap to just beat his teammate into second, no doubts causing a stir in the Red Bull garage.
Q1
The session began with a hefty crash for Yuki Tsunoda at the Variante Alta, causing a red flag.
That left four places to be decided in Q2. The two Haas cars remaining slowest in 18th and 19th, as Mick Schumacher led teammate Nikita Mazepin by half a second.
Then in the final moments, both Williams’ jumped out of the elimination zone at the expense of both Alfa Romeos, leaving Kimi Raikkonen 16th and Antonio Giovinazzi 17th.
Q2
At the front, Sergio Perez went fastest on soft tyres as Red Bull took no chances after missing Q3 in Bahrain.
Meanwhile, Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas all comfortably made the cut despite choosing the medium compound to start the race.
In the battle to make the top 10, Carlos Sainz just missed out in 11th for Ferrari as Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo made late improvements.
George Russell maintained his 100% qualifying record against Williams teammates in P12, with Sebastian Vettel between himself and Nicholas Latifi in 14th.
Fernando Alonso will be disappointed to bring up the Q2 order in 15th, four-tenths behind Alpine teammate Ocon.
However, highlighting just how close the field is in 2021, just 0.877s separated Perez in P1 to the double world champion.
Q3
It was advantage Hamilton after the first runs, with less than a tenth between him and Verstappen in second.
Perez sat a strong third, while Bottas found himself down in sixth behind both Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.
And the session didn’t get any better for the Finn on his second lap, as errors at Tamburello and Acque Minerali left Valtteri down in eighth on the grid for Sunday’s race.
The question was though could anyone beat Hamilton, and the answer was no, as Perez fell just 0.035s shy in second and Verstappen couldn’t improve enough.
Charles Leclerc gave the Tifosi plenty to cheer in fourth for Ferrari, just ahead of Pierre Gasly in fifth for Imola’s most local team AlphaTauri.
Daniel Ricciardo was sixth but it was teammate Norris who threatened to shock the world as he went fastest in the first two sectors but just fell shy of Hamilton in a provisional second.
But his lap time, which would have secured him third on the grid, was deleted soon after for track limits at Piratella (Turn 9), and instead, the Brit will start seventh.
Bottas was confirmed down in eighth, creating a reverse scenario from Bahrain where Red Bull now have both cars with which to attack Hamilton on race day.
Ocon was ninth, as Lance Stroll completed the top 10 after having all Q3 lap times deleted for exceeding track limits.
Another thrilling qualifying session and some surprising results, setting up a fascinating race on Sunday.
Full results from qualifying can be seen below:
