After a thrilling qualifying session at Imola, we take a closer look at the numbers behind Max Verstappen’s unexpected pole win at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
As the data showed, the Dutchman needed outside help beyond his magic to beat McLaren, who looked faster than Red Bull overall.
Max Verstappen beats McLaren with massive tow to take Imola pole position
Additional reporting from Thomas Maher
The indirect protagonist of the Emilia Romagna GP qualifying session was Nico Hulkenberg. When Max Verstappen launched his final Q3 attack, the German driver was in the middle of the start/finish straight during his cooldown lap.
The Dutchman benefited from the slipstream provided by the Haas driver, which clearly made the difference to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in sector one.
According to the figures, this slipstream gave Verstappen more than 7km/h more top speed than his rivals. The RB20 is already very efficient in using his DRS on the fastball, but one of its strengths has been further maximized.
Asked afterwards about the moment, Verstappen told media such as PlanetF1.com:
“So I gave him a tow.” [Turn] 17 [Rivazza]and he towed me into Turn 2.
“I think I got there a little too early for my liking because I missed Turn 2 a little bit. So I was able to make a profit, but I lost a little bit in 2. Overall, I think it helped me a little bit.
“But when you’re struggling all weekend and you finally turn things around, you have to look for these little advantages to keep going and it worked out great.”
But apart from this slipstream, the Red Bull driver’s qualifying performance should not be underestimated. He finished Q1, Q2 and Q3 at the top of the timesheets.
Pole position was determined by the slipstream, which made the difference in that the MCL38’s superior cornering was complemented by the RB20’s superior high-speed cornering.
This difference of more than 7km/h meant that both Norris and Piastri lost 0.2 seconds over Verstappen.
McLaren once again suffered from the Verstappen effect in qualifying, even though the data showed that the MCL38 was better than the RB20 in the hands of the Dutchman.
The ideal lap of the weekend was given to the team based in Woking. Without the slipstream, it would have undoubtedly put both drivers on the front row for Sunday’s race, but Piastri would have been penalized with a three-place grid drop for interference from Kevin Magnussen. Demoted him regardless.
Ferrari withdraws from pole position fight
While Max Verstappen and McLaren battled for pole position, Ferrari fell behind both as the session dragged on.
The Italian team was one of the clear favorites to fight for pole position, but as Carlos Sainz pointed out after the session, it was all a mirage – their upgrades are not as big as many first thought. He pointed out that there was not.
The SF-24 seemed to suffer as trucks evolved to increase tire temperatures. Sainz himself admitted that he felt more comfortable on Q1’s medium tires than Q3’s soft tires in terms of grip.
Furthermore, the data shows that if George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda had set perfect laps, Sainz could have finished seventh instead of fifth.
Qualifying remains Ferrari’s weak point, even in its ‘base’ car, and apparently even in this spec 2.0 car. As we have done so far this season, we hope to perform even better in tomorrow’s race.
As you can see by the numbers, they were the second slowest team on the grid in a straight line, only ahead of Alpine, so it actually looks like they were set up for the race. The problem is that it’s not easy to overtake on track at Imola. That means you’ll have to wait until their approach turns out to be the best one.
Sergio Perez lost to Daniel Ricciardo in Q2
After an accident in FP3, Sergio Perez’s Saturday culminated in a worst-case scenario, with both RB drivers eliminated in Q2. Moreover, he lost in the qualifying round to Daniel Ricciardo, who had struggled throughout the season.
And this is bad news not only for the Mexican player but also for the team. With Verstappen alone at the front of the field on Sunday, McLaren and Ferrari could use different tactics to trap Red Bull into a strategic trap.
What happened so far this weekend in Imola?
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Tsunoda in the spotlight separates both Mercedes.
Hiroki Tsunoda shined in qualifying by drawing both Mercedes. The Japanese driver has already achieved his best result in his home race at Suzuka, and he did it again on Saturday at the team’s home track. Tsunoda himself lives just down the road from Imola.
Thanks to a great sector 1, the Japanese driver was able to compensate for the weaknesses of his car compared to the Silver Arrow and gain a very favorable position for the race.
As expected in our previous data analysis, Haas have been able to maintain their pace, but this weekend the RBs are slightly above the mid-table teams.
On the other hand, Mercedes is still unable to get close to the top three teams, with the following teams closing in on them. Meanwhile, Russell said after the session that the car felt the best it had all season due to the upgrades made to the W15 at Imola this weekend.
Read next: George Russell praises Mercedes’ upgrades as ‘best all season’
