Max Verstappen beats rain and Leclerc to take F1 Imola GP sprint race pole

The marshals of Imola most deservedly earned a warming glass of vino rosso as darkness fell after qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, such was the frequency of the demands on them to wave red flags during a torturously slow, rain-afflicted session. By its close Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had earned “pole position” but such is the equally painful structuring of this format, while his pole counts statistically in the record books it is only for Saturday’s sprint race which will decide the literal pole for Sunday’s GP.

Verstappen beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc into second and McLaren’s Lando Norris into third but for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes the rain, the flags, the wretched format paled into insignificance to the excruciating discomfort of his team’s performance at Imola as they fell to their worst showing in almost a decade.

Hamilton only narrowly made it into Q2 and finished in 13th place with his teammate George Russell in 11th. They were unlucky in that the rain prevented them setting better times in Q2 but they were clearly already struggling, their car suffering with a severe form of the porpoising that has afflicted them all season. It is the first time a Mercedes has not made it into Q3 since the Japanese GP in 2012.

Hamilton was seen in a lively discussion with team principal Toto Wolff at the back of the Mercedes garage afterwards and perhaps in a sign of his frustration was unusually critical in his assessment.

“It wasn’t a great session, naturally it’s disappointing,” he said. “We underperformed as a team today. There are things that we should have done that we didn’t do. We will just keep working hard, but each weekend is a rescue.” He pointedly also declined to explain the subject of his