Emilia Romagna GP qualifying facts and stats: Hamilton extends two records as Perez breaks his front row duck

Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position from the Red Bull pairing of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen at the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. But which of his own records did Hamilton extend at Imola – and why will Verstappen be particularly annoyed to be starting behind Perez? Read on for the facts and stats from qualifying...

• Lewis Hamilton’s 99th career pole position also marked the 30th circuit he’s claimed a pole position at – an extension of two of his own records. Portimao last season was the last time Hamilton recorded pole position at a new venue.

• Sergio Perez’s P2 on the grid will mark his first ever front row start in his 193 Grands Prix to date – meaning he no longer holds the record for the most race starts without a front row appearance.

• The 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix marked the first time Max Verstappen’s been outqualified by a Red Bull team mate on pure pace since Daniel Ricciardo outperformed him at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

READ MORE: Hamilton takes 99th pole in Imola as Perez seals first front row start ahead of Verstappen

• Charles Leclerc may be fourth on the grid for the second race in a row – but Ferrari are still yet to enjoy a top-three start so far this decade.

• Behind Leclerc, Pierre Gasly is also fifth for the second straight race, Daniel Ricciardo is sixth for the second straight race and Lando Norris is seventh for the second straight race – although Norris did have a time deleted that would have been good enough for P3.

• This is the second time in the last six races that Valtteri Bottas has qualified outside the top seven – the last having come at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix, when he qualified P9.

READ MORE: Bottas says he ‘couldn’t trust his car’ as Mercedes driver manages only P8 in Imola qualifying

• Alpine’s Esteban Ocon found himself out in Q1 in Bahrain (albeit as a result of yellow flags) – but struck back to make it to Q3 at Imola, eventually qualifying P9.

• Carlos Sainz failed to make it through to Q3 in only his second race for Ferrari – while only three times out of 17 Grands Prix last year with McLaren did he not make it through to the final part of qualifying.

• George Russell maintains his record of never having been outqualified by a team mate as a Williams driver – but Nicholas Latifi at least took his own best grid slot with 14th, in what was his first Q2 appearance since the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix… which had been his first ever Q2 appearance.

• This was also only the second time since 2019 that both Williams cars have made Q2.

• Sebastian Vettel has now failed to reach Q3 for the last 15 straight races.

• Fernando Alonso’s 27-race streak of outqualifying a team mate – stretching back to the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix – came to an end at Imola, a track he won at for Renault in 2005.

READ MORE: ‘I was not good enough’ admits Alonso after Q2 exit on Imola return

• Haas and Alfa Romeo lost both cars in Q1 for the second year in succession at Imola – although Alfa Romeo recovered to a double-points finish at last year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which will give them some hope.

• AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda may have crashed at the Variante Alta in Q1. But he can take solace from the fact that his childhood hero Fernando Alonso did the same thing in his own rookie season in 2001, and for effectively the same team – racing back then as Minardi.