Qualifying for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Round 7 of the 2024 Formula 1 season, took place at Imola on the evening of 18 May, Beijing time. Max Verstappen took his seventh consecutive pole since the start of the season with a 1:14.746. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was second, 0.074s behind, with Lando Norris third. Just 0.091s covered the top three.
After struggling through the practice day, Red Bull made major set-up changes on Saturday with an immediate effect: Verstappen was fastest in all three qualifying segments, Q1, Q2 and Q3. Piastri finished just 0.074s away in Q3, but the stewards gave him a three-place grid penalty after the session for “unnecessarily impeding” Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in Q1. He will therefore start the Grand Prix fifth, with team mate Norris promoted to the front row.
Ferrari could not join the pole fight at home. Charles Leclerc was fourth and Carlos Sainz fifth, both more than 0.2s off pole. George Russell finished sixth, just 0.001s behind Sainz.
RB enjoyed its strongest qualifying session of the season. Yuki Tsunoda took seventh with a 1:15.465, keeping Lewis Hamilton 0.039s behind and setting a new personal best qualifying position for the season. Daniel Ricciardo also reached Q3 and finished ninth, giving RB its first double Q3 appearance of the year. Tsunoda lost time in both the second and third sectors of his final flying lap and could not improve. On hearing the result over the radio, he expressed his frustration but also apologised to the team.
Q1 brought a series of surprises. Fernando Alonso’s car was only just repaired in time after his FP3 crash, but he had another trip through the gravel and was eliminated near the bottom of the order. Logan Sargeant’s fastest lap was deleted, keeping Alonso off the very bottom. Magnussen was impeded by Piastri on his flying lap and finished only 18th, setting up the subsequent penalty. Ferrari boldly advanced on medium tyres, while Verstappen needed just one set of softs to go through fastest. Tsunoda used two sets of new soft tyres to finish fourth.
The Q2 elimination list was even more surprising. Sergio Pérez attacked the kerbs at the Variante Alta chicane so hard that all four wheels left the ground, and ultimately missed Q3 by 0.015s. He will start 11th. Tsunoda progressed comfortably in third, just 0.030s behind Leclerc, while Ricciardo narrowly secured the last place in Q3.
Qualifying took place in dry conditions, with an air temperature of 27°C and a track temperature of 42°C. Pirelli brought its softest range of compounds, C3 to C5, to the event.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Q1 time | Q2 time | Q3 time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:15.762 | 1:15.176 | 1:14.746 | 18 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:15.940 | 1:15.407 | 1:14.820 | 15 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:15.915 | 1:15.371 | 1:14.837 | 19 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:15.823 | 1:15.328 | 1:14.970 | 21 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:16.015 | 1:15.512 | 1:15.233 | 20 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:16.107 | 1:15.671 | 1:15.234 | 18 |
| 7 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 1:15.894 | 1:15.358 | 1:15.465 | 15 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:16.604 | 1:15.677 | 1:15.504 | 20 |
| 9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 1:16.060 | 1:15.691 | 1:15.674 | 15 |
| 10 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas | 1:15.841 | 1:15.569 | 1:15.980 | 21 |
| 11 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1:16.404 | 1:15.706 | – | 10 |
| 12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:16.361 | 1:15.906 | – | 15 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:16.458 | 1:15.992 | – | 15 |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 1:16.524 | 1:16.200 | – | 12 |
| 15 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:16.015 | 1:16.381 | – | 14 |
| 16 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 1:16.626 | – | – | 6 |
| 17 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | 1:16.834 | – | – | 9 |
| 18 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:16.854 | – | – | 8 |
| 19 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:16.917 | – | – | 7 |
| NC | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | DNF | – | – | 8 |
