F1 qualifying LIVE: Result and grid positions from Imola as Max Verstappen takes sprint race pole and Lewis Hamilton falters

LIVE – Updated at 18:30

Max Verstappen will start Saturday’s sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on pole position after both Mercedes cars failed to make it through to Q3 for the first time in almost 10 years at Imola on Friday evening.

After Carlos Sainz’s crash in Q2 triggered a red flag, the rain began to pour and brought wet conditions for the remainder of the session, leaving both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell eliminated as they opted to not risk a further lap in the rain.

It marked the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix in 2012 that Mercedes failed to have a car finish in the top 10 of qualifying as their early season struggles continued, with Toto Wolff saying his team’s issues with ‘porpoising’ were their worst yet this year.

At the other end of the field, Verstappen will start ahead of Charles Leclerc after he held on to provisional pole in a rain-soaked and red flag-hit qualifying session. Verstappen clocked a faster time than Leclerc just as Valtteri Bottas pulled up off the track to trigger the fifth red flag of the session, while Lando Norris took a surprise third.

Follow all the reaction from qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix below:

Christian Horner has said the issues with Max Verstappen’s car which forced him to retire from the Australian Grand Prix have been fixed.

It was the second time Verstappen didn’t finish a race this season due to faults with his car. The defending champion is in sixth in the driver standings as a result and the Red Bull star will have to rebuild his season from the Imola race on Sunday.

“We’ve been working with our colleagues at HRC in Japan, and they found the issue and they resolved it,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.

Problem that caused Max Verstappen