Valtteri Bottas dominated the qualification for the Emilie-Roagny Grand Prix
Miguel Medina, ČTK / AP
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Bottas recorded a time of 1: 13.609 on the circuit where Formula 1 returned after fourteen years. For the fifteenth pole position in his career, he finished 97 thousandths of a second ahead of Hamilton, who on Sunday may, under certain circumstances, approach the difference of a single point in the seventh title to equal the record of the famous Michael Schumacher.
“I really enjoyed it. It’s a really beautiful track here and being in a pole position is a great feeling, I knocked out at the finish line,” Bottas said in a television interview. “My bike was really bad, but not everything can always be perfect,” said Hamilton.
Formula 1 drivers Räikkönen and Giovinazzi remain in Alfa Romeo
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The defending champion was also enthusiastic about the return of the formula to Imola. “I don’t know why such tracks are no longer being built today. This is just a classic,” he said. “But we will most likely see a boring race, because there is basically no single place to overtake here. With the DRS system, it may be possible in the first corner,” he added.
Constructors’ Cup already on Sunday?
Thanks to Bottas, Mercedes also won the thirteenth qualification in the season in which he has so far won ten races. Therefore, on Sunday, the Constructors’ Cup can be won four races before the end of the seventh in a row. The German team, which only needs to score 11 points, so far shares the record of six triumphs in a row with Ferrari.
Max Verstappen from Red Bull will take third place at the start. He was six tenths behind Bottas and did not follow up on the performance from the only training session in Imola, which took place before today’s qualification and in which the Dutch driver managed to get to the second place among the Mercedes.
“We had technical problems, so it wasn’t a completely cool qualification,” Verstappen recalled the ignition problems, which made him almost out of the second part of the qualification. “Third place is not bad, but I thought I would not have such a loss,” said the Red Bull pilot.
| Qualification for the Emilie-Romagny Grand Prix, Formula 1 World Championship race in Imola: |
| 1. Bottas (Fin./Mercedes) 1: 13.609 |
| 2. Hamilton (Brit./Mercedes) -0,097 |
| 3. Verstappen (Niz./Red Bull) -0,567 |
| 4. Gasly (Fr./Alpha Tauri) -0.893 |
| 5. Ricciardo (Austr./Renault) -0,911 |
| 6. Albon (Thaj./Red Bull) -0,963 |
| 7. Leclerc (Mon./Ferrari) -1,007 |
| 8. Kvjat (Rus./Alpha Tauri) -1,087 |
| 9. Norris (Brit./McLaren) -1,205 |
| 10. Sainz (Sp. / McLaren) -1,302. |
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