Qualifying Highlights | 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Oh, Fernando Alonso, is he going to make the corner? We waited for him to exit the Tamburello. And my word, the man who crashed in FP3 very nearly did the same thing again. We're on board with him into the first chicane. Yeah, commits to the apex, runs out of road and then does that double run through the gravel. A lot of great work from the mechanics to get it rebuilt after the free practice crash. Let's see if he can reset and go again. What can Bottas do? He goes up to 14th. So Ricciardo in the drop zone. Joe has completed his lap. Magnussen's in there, Alonso's in the pit. Hülkenberg last at the moment, but goes first. How many times do you see that? Last to first challenge completed. Hülkenberg, top of the pile. Hearing that Magnussen got held up on his push lap. He's returned to the pits. The Haas party lasted for a couple of minutes. Verstappen restores the order. That's a huge lap in the context of this season for Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian driver delivers when he needed to. Here's his teammate in 10th place. But Ricciardo is fourth on the grid for a sprint race in Miami. Seventh, now eighth in the order because his teammate just has a feel around here. Yuki Tsunoda, P3. This is Magnussen getting traffic. I can't believe this, man. It's unreal. Unreal. We have Bottas, Sargent, Joe, Magnussen and Alonso at the bottom of the pile. He crashed in FP3. He was off in Q1 and he's out in Q1 for the first time this season. Daniel Ricciardo, personal best, sector one, sector two. How does he stack up against Sergio Pérez? He eliminates for the moment the Red Bull driver. Yeah, Pérez has gone across the line and will have this one lap. Looking ahead, he's just coming up to the Toza corner. So we're going to get to see where his first sector is. It's not an improvement. 23.9. So he's dropped a bit of time, Pérez. They've sent him out late and he's got to do something in the last two sectors. Science makes sure that he's safe. So it is Pérez versus Ricciardo. And Chaco's got a lot of work to do. Pérez in the drop zone as it stands at the moment. Ocon, he's done. So is Stroll, so is Albon and so is Gasly. But this is real fine margin stuff. Risk versus reward now for the Mexican driver trying to displace Daniel Ricciardo. You've got Yuki Tsunoda up there in P2. Will it be the senior team? Will it be Red Bull? Verstappen improves to the top of the pile. Pérez is trying to book his place into the final part of qualifying once again. And it will be a nervous wait to the chequered flag for Sergio Pérez, who improves his time, but not his position. And Pérez falls at the second hurdle. We told you there might be a big name out in Q2 and that name is Sergio Pérez. What a mess. First time this year that Pérez will not make the top 10 shootout. He's out along with Ocon, Stroll, Albon and Pierre Gasly. Verstappen to the line. What's the time on the board for everyone to beat? It's a 1.14.8. Yeah, he looked like he was right on the edge of that front axle through this Tour de France as Norris doesn't quite manage to pip him. But he's close enough. He's within a tenth of a second. Norris got within seven hundredths of a second. Faster in sector 2, faster in sector 3. But it's that first sector, as Jolien told you, the best of the weekend so far that has taken Verstappen to provisional pole at the moment. Here is the second McLaren. Piastri, sector 1, sector 2. Not on terms of Verstappen or Norris, but good enough to go ahead of Tsunoda. Fastest in that last sector. And you see how he was able to get on the kerb at both of the Ruazzes. That's where the Red Bull is struggling a little bit. It's just almost as if they're running out of front tyre towards the end of the lap. Sainz goes into fourth position on his first run. What can Charles Leclerc do? Top on Friday, practice day. He goes to third ahead of Oscar Piastri. It's Verstappen, Norris and Leclerc. After the first push runs and it's still wide open there. Leclerc, Norris and Verstappen separated by a tenth and a half. Where does Carlos Sainz go across the line? He does not improve his position, only his time. Charles Leclerc, fastest middle sector. The second Ferrari comes over the line and he too improves his time, but stays in third. Max Verstappen finds himself now attacking the racetrack. He's just ahead of Lando Norris on the circuit. He's gone through Acqua Minerale with the fastest first sector of anyone so far. And he's improving on his own benchmark by a tenth and a half. Yeah, and gets him still through the top chicane. Two corners and one big braking zone. Well, we talked about the Ferraris. We talked about the McLarens. But there has only been one driver at the head of the field in Formula One 2024 when it comes to qualifying. And Max Verstappen takes it further away. It will need something mighty from Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri. Oh, he got close, did Lando Norris. Nine hundredths of a second close. But now Oscar Piastri looking to give it everything in the final few metres. Can he get on terms with his teammate as he comes across the line? He can! Oscar Piastri jumps to the front row with his last lap. He got within seven hundredths. McLaren got close, but not close enough. And it's eight pole positions in a row in Formula One for only the second time in championship history. Ayrton Senna did it first. Max Verstappen did it second. And that is a hard-earned pole position this weekend, Max. Enjoy it. Fantastic. Let's go. Oh, that's definitely a really good pole position. What a difficult start, but we turned it around. Thank you, everyone. That's fantastic. Really happy. We wondered who it might be at the front. Ferrari could not get that first sector to work. It took them out of contention, even though they look good in the second and the third. Piastri, Norris, close within a tenth of a second. But once again, for the 39th time in his Formula One career. It's Verstappen on pole position.