Qualifying: Perez lands first front row start of his career for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has landed his 99th career Pole Position after an incredibly close final shootout for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix lineup.

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen proved themselves to be Hamilton’s closest rivals and will be hunting the leading Mercedes down from P2 and P3 respectively.

There was heartbreak for Lando Norris who would have found himself in P3 had his lap time not been deleted for exceeding track limits during his final flying lap of Q3.

Here’s how it played out this afternoon:

Q1

Just minutes into Q1, the action kicked off with Yuki Tsunoda suffering a hefty crash that brought about a red flag.

The Japanese driver took a spin coming out of Turn 15 after taking too much kerb, resulting in a huge amount of damage to the back of the 20-year-old’s AT02 – marking the end of his qualifying session in Italy.

Racing resumed and saw the remaining 19 drivers return to the track.

Valtteri Bottas clocked the fastest lap of Q1 with a 1:14.672s followed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton just .1s off the pace, and Lando Norris coming in third, .3s away from first.

Joining Tsunoda in the bottom 5 were the Alfa Romeo duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi in P16 and P17 respectively, followed by the two Haas drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin in P18 and P19.

Fastest: BOTTAS (1:14.673)
Slowest: MAZEPIN ( 1:16.797)

Q2

Drivers returned to the track for Q2 with most opting for the medium tyres on the first laps as they look to start tomorrow’s race on that compound.

Straight out of the gate Lewis Hamilton was ahead of Verstappen by 0.067s, with Bottas two-tenths further back in P3.

Norris clinched the top spot on the soft Pirellis followed by Hamilton and Verstappen in P2 and P3 behind the McLaren with five minutes left in Q2.

Lando fires it into P1 🔥

1:14.718 is the new time to beat!#ImolaGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/cnO31ET4Se

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 17, 2021

Williams’ George Russell put the FW43B to the test and came out with a surprisingly quick lap, saving him from the Q2 elimination zone for a brief moment – however, the British driver ended the session in P12 and out of the running.

Perez clinched the quickest lap of Q2 crossing the line in 1:14.716, followed by Lando Norris just .002s off the pace and Leclerc in P3.

Among those eliminated from Q2 was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in P11, the two Williams’ of Russell and Latifi in P12 and P14, split by the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel, while Alpine’s Fernando Alonso took P15.

Fastest: PEREZ (1:14.716)
Slowest: ALONSO (1:15.593)

Q3

The final battle was on for tomorrow afternoon’s pole position at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and while it was very close between Red Bull and Mercedes in the final shootout this afternoon, Hamilton clinched his 99th career pole position.

Just milliseconds behind was the Red Bull of Sergio Perez who joins Hamilton on the front row, with Max Verstappen in third.

Welcome to the front row, @SChecoPerez 😉#ImolaGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/zh1xe0sMQ6

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 17, 2021

Lando Norris looked set to take off from third tomorrow, but after exceeding track limits the McLaren driver had his time deleted and will begin tomorrow’s race in P7, behind his Aussie teammate Daniel Ricciardo in P6.

The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc will take off from P4 tomorrow, followed by the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly who impressed across the weekend in the AT02.

After ruling the timesheets during Free Practice this weekend, Bottas will take off tomorrow afternoon from an unfamiliar P8, behind the two McLaren’s.

Fastest: HAMILTON (1:14.955)
Slowest: STROLL (1:15.138)