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Emilia Romagna qualifying facts and stats: Gasly gives AlphaTauri best grid slot since 2008
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Formula 1 hasn’t visited Imola in well over a decade, but its return is already proving popular with drivers and fans alike. So what numbers did Saturday’s session throw up to add to the famous venue’s history books?
• Today was Valtteri Bottas’ 15th career pole position – he has converted 5 of the previous 14 into wins.
• With team mate Lewis Hamilton 2nd, it was Mercedes’ 74th front-row lockout.
• Lewis Hamilton has been 1st or 2nd in every Q3 session this year.
• Max Verstappen is 3rd on the grid for the 6th time in the last 10 races.
Bottas had to work hard to beat Hamilton to pole, with just 0.097s the margin
• Pierre Gasly's 4th is the best qualifying result for AlphaTauri since Sebastian Vettel was on pole for the team (then Toro Rosso) at Monza 2008.
• The team – who have just reconfirmed Gasly for next season – have never been in the top 4 on the grid in any other event since their Minardi days.
READ MORE: Gasly dedicates P4 at Imola to Senna after equalling best ever qualifying performance
• Gasly’s P4 matches his previous career-best start of 4th for Red Bull at the 2019 German GP.
• Team mate Daniil Kvyat made it into Q3 for only the 2nd time in the last 28 races, the last being Mexico 2019.
It was another team boss-pleasing performance from Leclerc
• Daniel Ricciardo’s P5 result gives him his 4th top-5 start of the season.
• Ricciardo out-qualified team mate Esteban Ocon (P12) for the 11th consecutive race.
• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified 7th – the last time he started in that position, at the 2020 Austrian GP, he finished 2nd.
• At McLaren, Lando Norris out-qualified team mate Carlos Sainz for only the 2nd time in the last 8 Grands Prix.
• Racing Point’s Sergio Perez – currently without a drive for 2020 – failed to reach Q3 for the first time this year in dry weather, the Mexican missing the cut by just 0.010s.
Giovinazzi had the dubious honour of being slowest on his home track
• Williams’ George Russell – who will stay with the team next year – reached Q2 for the 8th time in the last 12 races – he has now out-qualified his team mate in 34 consecutive races.
• Russell also out-qualified Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for the 2nd consecutive weekend, with Vettel having had his quickest Q2 time deleted for exceeding track limits.
• Vettel failed to reach Q3 for a 9th consecutive race.
• Both Haas drivers went out in Q1 for the 7th time in 2020, with Romain Grosjean now leading team mate Kevin Magnussen 7-6 in their qualifying head-to-head. Both have been dropped from the team for next year.
• It’s also 7-6 in the Alfa Romeo team mates’ head-to-head, with Kimi Raikkonen leading Antonio Giovinazzi. Both have been retained for next year.
• Giovinazzi was the slowest qualifier for only the 2nd time this year. He was also slowest at the Spanish GP.
ANALYSIS: Why Alfa Romeo kept Raikkonen and Giovinazzi for 2021 – and what now for Schumacher?
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