Verstappen worked magic with everything against him and took pole position against McLaren

It’s like he’s been knocked out. With many problems on Friday. He was huffing in anger, in misunderstanding, he complained on the radio after three off-road runs in an Imola that, with so many gravel escapes, was a challenge for everyone. And when their rivals seemed stronger, at the home of their great opponent, Ferrari, a few kilometers from Maranello and in full red standing against them, the monster woke up. Max Verstappen, the three-time world champion, with a car in which his teammate ‘Checo’ Pérez didn’t even make it to Q3 (11th), scored a giant pole.

Max overtook Oscar Piastri’s McLaren by just 74 thousandths, achieving second place ‘in extremis’ on his last bullet, although he will have to wait to confirm this as he is being investigated for distracting Magnussen in Q1. The Australian could lose three places. And Lando Norris, the other McLaren, was 91 thousandths behind, two weeks after achieving his first F1 victory. McLaren is a reality and will test this Sunday with great speed. So far, Max said he made some key changes to the set-up before qualifying that earned him pole position. The rest he placed with his hands.

Behind Max and the two McLarens finished Charles Leclerc, at 0″224, and Carlos Sainz (5th) at 0″487. The two Ferraris seemed to be clear contenders for the pole with their excellent package of evolutions, but in the end they could not achieve it.

A true work of art by Max

He created a true work of art in which the one to whom he was greatly compared, Ayrton Senna, will always live in the memory of all. Max did not wear the ‘yellow’ shirt in the tribute organized by Vettel on Thursday until arriving at the Tamburello cave, where the legendary Brazilian died 30 years ago. He waited until this Saturday to give him his best tribute with a starry, dreamlike turn, to take pole position as he seemingly went to the battlefield with fewer weapons against the increasingly large battalions of Ferrari and McLaren. Again, he made the pole. And they are 7 out of 7. Spectacular.

In Q3, at the first attempt, Verstappen overtook Norris by 73 thousandths, with Leclerc one tenth away, Piastri two tenths away and Sainz half a second away. They will all try it again. Max had to nail it again on his last turn. And the fight has begun.

Leclerc improved the record in the second sector of his final lap. And Norris improved his personal time first. But Verstappen looked like a shot and went on to paint the second sector purple. It silenced a stand full of dedicated ‘tifosi’, who dreamed all weekend of that pole and a victory that made the hill too high for those in red.

In a circuit where overtaking is very complicated, with only one DRS zone, very narrow, where everyone will try to stop, where last year there were only 17 overtakes in the whole race, Max is the favorite to win again despite suffering. However, McLaren seems to have good race pace, and with two cars ahead (if they don’t penalize Piastri), they can try to vary strategies to try to catch the leader.

Nothing seems to change. But if. Max is no longer redundant. He has to climb walls and sweat to keep going. This time, Verstappen has rivals lurking, so close, that it seems Red Bull’s duty to take more victories this year. For now, Max will defend the victory at Imola this Sunday where the rain, in which Senna shined, is the only thing missing from joining the party to give everyone even more excitement.

Alonso, 19th

Fernando Alonso suffered from the track with 6 minutes remaining in Q1 and, with the ground breaking, he was unable to attempt another final turn to make the cut. It was a day to forget for him after another off-track in Free Practice 3 caused him to smash the car into the wall. Aston Martin managed to fix the car but Fernando came into qualifying with little confidence due to having run so little in FP3. He starts on the 19th. In a race where it is very difficult to catch up, it will be very difficult to overcome.