F1

Lewis Hamilton feels that “each weekend is a rescue” currently for Mercedes in Formula 1 after the team suffered a double Q2 exit at Imola on Friday.

[It's] not ideal, but we got a chance to recover these positions tomorrow." [We] can only go up." "So let's see what we can do. Each weekend is a rescue." It's going to be a difficult race, but hopefully tomorrow is better weather-wise, and who knows, maybe we'll move our way forwards." There are things that we should have done that we didn't do.

Max Verstappen took pole position for Red Bull in a nailbiting qualifying session ahead of the inaugural F1 Sprint of 2022 at Imola.

It was very slippery to get the tyre temps to work. Vettel sealed Aston Martin's first Q3 appearance of 2022 in P8 (and emerged for a late intermediate run alongside Leclerc), Ricciardo and Bottas rounding out the top 10. Verstappen then improved to a 1m 27.999s, just after Bottas crashed to bring out a red flag going into Turn 16. “It was tricky out there with the rain… The rain then returned to ensure a damp finish to Friday evening. It was a hectic, long qualifying but of course at the end happy to be here. Dry line now clear, Lance Stroll set the first benchmark for Aston Martin – before the session was red flagged with 12 minutes remaining, Albon’s right-rear brake up in flames and spreading red-hot debris in its wake. Verstappen led Leclerc out but, given how difficult their out-laps seemed, it was clear that neither driver would improve. Nearly eight-tenths off, Leclerc had one last chance to pry provisional pole away from the reigning champion but was left second and 0.799s off after the red flag. The Spaniard went second, 0.197s off then-leader Verstappen, but spun and crashed going into the final left-hander. The umbrellas soon unfurled, and those drivers’ fates were essentially sealed. Tsunoda’s team mate Gasly could only take P17, making it an early elimination for both of AlphaTauri's drivers at their home circuit.

World champion won the right to lead Saturday's 21-lap dash to decide P1, while Lewis Hamilton criticised his mishandling Mercedes after only managing 13th.

Leclerc set the pace on his opening hot lap in Q3, mighty through the second and third sectors but he was only two-hundredths clear of Verstappen with a time of 1min 28.778sec. Pole gives Verstappen the chance to claw back points in the title fight which Leclerc leads on 71, with the world champion, who has retired twice this season, in sixth on 25. The drivers kept lapping as the clock ticked down and Verstappen pipped his rival with a 1min 27.999sec lap just before another red flag as Valtteri Bottas ground to a halt on track. It really punishes you if you make a mistake you can go in the wall. By its close Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had earned “pole position” but such is the equally painful structuring of this format, while his pole counts statistically in the record books it is only for Saturday’s sprint race which will decide the literal pole for Sunday’s GP. Hamilton only narrowly made it into Q2 and finished in 13th place with his teammate George Russell in 11th.

Hamilton in 'testy' exchange with boss as Mercedes crash to 10-year F1 low.

“I think we underperformed as a team. “Naturally, it is disappointing. We will just keep working hard.

World champion Max Verstappen secured pole position on Saturday for Sunday's sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after outpacing Charles Leclerc by ...

9th row: Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri) Nicholas Latifi (CAN/Williams-Mercedes) 7th row: Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo) 6th row: George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) Mick Schumacher (GER/Haas-Ferrari) 5th row: Sebastian Vettel (GER/Aston Martin-Mercedes) Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) It was Verstappen’s first pole this season and the 12th of his career. 2nd row: Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas-Ferrari)

Max Verstappen's brilliant pole position lap for Formula 1's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix raised some eyebrows as it came after he passed through a yellow flag ...

With just a single warning flag out, the FIA demands: "Drivers should reduce their speed and be prepared to change direction. It must be clear that a driver has reduced speed and, in order for this to be clear, a driver would be expected to have braked earlier and/or discernibly reduced speed in the relevant marshalling sector." "In order for the stewards to be satisfied that any such driver has complied with these requirements it must be clear that he has not attempted to set a meaningful lap time, for practical purposes any driver in a double yellow sector will have that laptime deleted."

After three entertaining and incident-packed Sprint weekends last year, the format returns at Imola for the Emilia Romagna GP. But what are the benefits of ...

The Sprint had its critics before debuting in 2021 in Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos - but nobody can dispute that the new format provided entertainment to the weekends. While not responsible for controversy directly, the Sprint also had its part to play in hugely dramatic moments last year. Again at Monza, the pair collided a day after the Sprint. Plus, if a driver wins all three Sprints in 2022, that almost adds up to a race win on its own (24). Handy. The winner will collect eight points, second place will score seven, with this continuing in descending order down to eighth (one point). It starts at 3.30pm and is live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event, with build-up from 2.30pm.

Max Verstappen has taken pole position for Red Bull at the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint race on Friday. Here's how and when to watch the ...

For the entire 2022 F1 season, Channel 4 will broadcast highlights of every qualifying and race of each event. The starting order for the sprint race will be decided by a traditional qualifying session held on Friday afternoon. Live streaming through NOW is also available in the UK. F1 has long been looking to make changes to the traditional race weekend format and while other options like reverse grid races were considered, they were ultimately unfancied compared to sprint races. In F2 the sprint race is 120km and the feature race covers 170km, though are usually no less exciting. They’re used in many other series, though perhaps most notably for Formula 1 is their inclusion in the Formula 2 race weekend.

Carlos Sainz felt he wasn't pushing hard prior to his Imola Formula 1 qualifying crash which he fears will cost him “quite a lot” through the rest of the ...

The car surprised me in that corner, [and] I missed it. Sainz acknowledged the damage on his car “looked bad” after the shunt and that it was “not going to be easy for the guys tonight” to get the repairs completed. Sainz explained that he was surprised to lose the car in the fashion that he did, but took full blame for the mistake.

Formula One champion Max Verstappen earned his first pole position of the season after an incident-packed qualifying session.

Ferrari dominated practice and again looked like the team to beat after a one-two in the session. Instead of the usual three practices to get to grips with the car, there was only one practice followed by qualifying on Saturday for Sunday's sprint. The passionate “tifosi” have been packing out the circuit in their red-colored droves this weekend, with more than 120,000 tickets sold. Qualifying was also stopped with three minutes remaining following an incident for Bottas as Verstappen went quickest. We will work as hard as we can to move up in the sprint race. We’ll try to put everything together tomorrow and after tomorrow.”

Formula 1 drivers would favour further modifications to the sprint race weekend format, chiefly to make it a standalone event rather than deciding the grid ...

He said: “I like the way it is. He said: “I think the qualifying idea is a good suggestion. I wouldn't want to see that change.

Max Verstappen will start on pole for the F1 sprint race at Imola ahead of Charles Leclerc after a rain-plagued qualifying session that cost Lewis Hamilton.

Qualifying was also stopped with three minutes remaining following an incident for Bottas as Verstappen went quickest. That included Hamilton and Russell. The passionate “tifosi” have been packing out the circuit in their red-colored droves this weekend, with more than 120,000 tickets sold. Ferrari dominated practice and again looked like the team to beat after a one-two in the session. Instead of the usual three practices to get to grips with the car, there was only one practice followed by qualifying on Friday for Saturday’s sprint. “There are things we should have done but we didn’t do.

Unlucky twist left Ricciardo 'hurt'; full extent of Mercedes nightmare — F1 Qualifying Analysis.

Norris credited a second straight strong qualifying session to the climatic conditions rather than the car, and on one level that makes sense. It’s much more difficult to pass at Imola compared to Interlagos, however, and that will be particularly true if the track is in any way damp to make deviating from the racing line treacherous. Haas will be the team’s chief rival, with Kevin Magnussen taking a sensational fourth. The car doesn’t like big braking zones, and the reduction in speed in the wet effectively took the bite out of the biggest stops around the track. With the improvements on the second lap, I really feel I could be significantly further up, but that’s alright.” Russell’s car was porpoising so badly during that hour that the floor stays, designed to help with the problem, snapped. Carlos Sainz re-signed with Ferrari during the week, but the Spaniard couldn’t convert that confidence into a qualifying result, crashing out of Q2 in what he described as surprising snap from the car at the end of a lap on which he wasn’t pushing particularly hard. To date sprint races have needed a focal point, and two cars starting out of position will be key excitement generators. If Verstappen can hold position off pole, even the Ferrari’s car superior corner-exit traction may not be enough for Leclerc to overcome him in the sprint, which doesn’t feature pit stop strategy to shake up the order. Things were only marginally better for Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull Racing car. A dry track combined with frequent bursts of rain made the session challenging for drivers. In wet practice everything was coming up Ferrari, with the red cars more almost 1.5 seconds quicker than anyone else.

Red Bull Racing Formula 1 boss Christian Horner is confident that Honda has fixed the fuel line issue that stopped Max Verstappen in Melbourne.

We can't afford the gap to grow again to Ferrari, so we need to start eroding it rather than seeing it grow.” “I mean, there's a lot points available this weekend, and we want to make sure that we're there to capitalise. The broken parts were quarantined after the race, and returned to the Japanese company’s base in Sakura.

Carlos Sainz felt he wasn't pushing hard prior to his Imola Formula 1 qualifying crash which he fears will cost him “quite a lot” through the rest of the ...

The car surprised me in that corner, [and] I missed it. Sainz said the target at Imola was now “to move forward and try and rescue some good points” over the sprint race and grand prix. Sainz acknowledged the damage on his car “looked bad” after the shunt and that it was “not going to be easy for the guys tonight” to get the repairs completed.

The F1 Sprint races are about to return for the 2022 season after a dramatic hat-trick of events in 2021 when the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen ...

Austria and Sao Paulo will also provide the settings for Sprint races during the 2022 season. That makes the Sprint more likely to prove pivotal in deciding where drivers finish this season. Hamilton won the full British Grand Prix race, where Verstappen did not finish after a hugely controversial collision with the home hero. What does the Sprint race entail? Pit stops are not mandatory, meaning the race lives up to its name by giving drivers the chance to go flat-out for victory from the start. How is it likely to affect the standings, and what time and where can F1 fans watch it?

Imola plays host to the first F1 Sprint race of the 2022 season. Here's how you can watch the session that decides the starting grid for the Emilia Romagna ...

Viewers from selected countries can subscribe to F1 TV to stream the Imola Sprint race on a device of their choice. - Denmark - TV3 / TV3 Sport / Viaplay Can’t find your country or region in the list?

Formula 1 world championship leader Charles Leclerc says the wrong run plan choice for qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix left him unhappy to be ...

So let’s keep pushing, but for now we have the potential to do so [win].” “P2 is not bad in the end. So it is like this.

Remarkably Friday's Formula 1 qualifying session in Imola was the first time since Japan 2012 that Mercedes did not have a car in Q3.

“So the remit of the power unit people is to focus on that, and look at any fine tuning that we can do to find gains. “We're constantly doing analysis on that,” says Shovlin. “There's areas that we think we can improve in terms of managing the deployment. “But as an aside, we're still working hard to try and understand, get on top and solve the bouncing. We just didn't have the grip that we needed to be quick.” One is, could we could we have run the earlier part of the session better? The developments we brought here, we were aware that they're not going to affect that. But we should be able to perform in the same position that we're racing, which is realistically third-quickest team." “As I said, we still need to understand why we can't match some of the mid-grid teams, even. As I said, we don't know whether there's something else in terms of how we're setting the car up, or how we're approaching the way that we're generating heat in the tyres. “And we've not got to the bottom of it. “On a single lap, a lot of the midfield teams are better than us. In Bahrain it doesn't really cost you, and all the other tracks, it's actually been a bit of a difficulty in qualifying.

As F1 returns to Imola, BEN EDWARDS recalls how this delightful but unforgiving circuit has been a hotspot for discord and tragedy.

But has Ferrari banished the problems of the recent past as it seeks a first Formula 1 drivers' title since 2007, or could the woes that thwarted Sebastian Vettel return to plague the Scuderia once more? MARK GALLAGHER looks at why the cryptocurrency exchange providers are desperate for market share, and how F1 is cashing in Team-mates often attempt to combine forces in the early part of a season, especially when new technical rules shift the sand and working together creates more opportunity for the team to move forward.

Ferrari Formula 1 team boss Mattia Binotto concedes that Carlos Sainz has to learn to manage the pressure of having a frontrunning car for the first time.

And together with that line-up, I think it's the best we can do.” A shame, because when he went off, I think it was not the right time to push to the limits. But nevertheless, I think that he is improving himself, he is going faster and faster.

Formula One racing is in Italy this weekend for the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The race will take place on Sunday at the Imola Circuit, ...

Max Verstappen has the best odds to win the sprint at DraftKings Sportsbook installed at -105. The points received from finishing in the top eight will be applied to both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships. A secondary benefit is that points will be awarded to the top eight drivers from the sprint.

Ferrari says that its Russian tester Robert Shwartzman will drive under an Israeli licence during any outings with the Formula 1 team this year.

"So, at the moment, he is still our test driver and he will remain for that. In 2020, he drove a SF1000 at the Yas Marina circuit, while last year he drove for both Ferrari and Haas at the post-season young driver and tyre test. Shwartzman has been a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2017, and showed his potential to the Maranello squad by winning the 2019 FIA Formula 3 championship, as well as finishing runner-up in last year's F2 championship.

Formula 1 world championship leader Charles Leclerc says the wrong run plan choice for qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix left him unhappy to be ...

So let’s keep pushing but for now we have the potential to do so [win].” We'll learn from it and, at the end, P2 is not a disaster.” So it is like this.

Mercedes racer George Russell topped the second practice session ahead of Formula 1's 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to head Red Bull's Sergio Perez and ...

Leclerc's run plan was offbeat by comparison, as he stuck to the yellow-walled compound for the early part of the session as part of a near-20-lap stint on the Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas was also on the sidelines for the duration of the hour as Alfa Romeo sought to remedy the exhaust issue that forced the Finn to park up and cause a red flag in qualifying. But as the final quarter of an hour approached, he returned to the track on soft tyres for a quicker stint and buzzed over the timing line in 1m19.740s to land second, ceding 0.2s to Russell but pipping third-fastest Perez by 0.05s as Carlos Sainz settled in sixth place. By comparison, Max Verstappen was in the high 1m20s for the bulk of his soft tyre run and occasionally nudged the 1m21s to suggest a simulation more akin to the full grand prix. Perez appeared to be on a one-third-capacity low-fuel dash to mimic the shorter afternoon sprint race as he consistently turned in a run of laps in the high 1m19s and low 1m20s. But then it was Perez who moved and, for a large chunk of the early afternoon run, remained at the head of the leaderboard as he completed a stint on the C4 compound soft Pirellis.

Ferrari's Russian test driver Robert Shwartzman will use an Israeli licence to make any appearances for the team in Formula 1.

Binotto also confirmed Shwartzman is no longer backed by any Russian companies. Shwartzman competed in F2 last year under a Russian licence. The announcement had immediate ramifications for Russian drivers competing in FIA series.

Valtteri Bottas was forced to miss Saturday's FP2 session at Imola as his Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team worked to build up the spare chassis for the Finn.

“I trust him on the fact that the adaptation will be quite quick, and he will have a look at the data from Zhou, and have a good understanding,” he said. "We expected yesterday to have to do it, but the car is sealed. The loom is going inside the chassis, and it's easier to change it.

Max Verstappen starts from pole position for today's sprint race, ahead of the Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

How to watch the F1 Emilia Romagna GP sprint race Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari second, ahead of Lando Norris with Lewis Hamilton lodged in 13th. How to watch F1 Emilia Romagna GP sprint race today: TV channel and live stream for 2022 event at Imola

Mercedes racer George Russell topped the second practice session ahead of Formula 1's 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to head Red Bull's Sergio Perez and ...

Leclerc's run plan was offbeat by comparison, as he stuck to the yellow-walled compound for the early part of the session as part of a near-20-lap stint on the Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas was also on the sidelines for the duration of the hour as Alfa Romeo sought to remedy the exhaust issue that forced the Finn to park up and cause a red flag in qualifying. But as the final quarter of an hour approached, he returned to the track on soft tyres for a quicker stint and buzzed over the timing line in 1m19.740s to land second, ceding 0.2s to Russell but pipping third-fastest Perez by 0.05s as Carlos Sainz settled in sixth place. By comparison, Max Verstappen was in the high 1m20s for the bulk of his soft tyre run and occasionally nudged the 1m21s to suggest a simulation more akin to the full grand prix. Perez appeared to be on a one-third-capacity low-fuel dash to mimic the shorter afternoon sprint race as he consistently turned in a run of laps in the high 1m19s and low 1m20s. But then it was Perez who moved and, for a large chunk of the early afternoon run, remained at the head of the leaderboard as he completed a stint on the C4 compound soft Pirellis.

Live updates, highlights and results from the first Formula 1 Sprint race of the season, at F1's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

15 mins to lights out: There are a few drivers who will be looking to make up places as they qualify for the full length race tomorrow. Of the cars with medium tyres, Magnussen is the furthest forward. He came together with Gasly, who gets new parts in the pits and will rejoin the back of the pack. Some teams struggled to get heat in their tyres yesterday, and they'll be hoping for a more driveable circuit today. Lap 12: Sainz gets past Magnussen, to cheers from the home fans. Perez is up to P4, and it's Lando Norris separating Perez from his teammate in P2. Formation lap: A mix of soft and medium tyres, as the teams begin the formation lap. Fernando Alonso is slow off the mark, with a couple of cars overtaking him. It was an interesting choice from Haas to go with the medium tyres. Lap 19: LeClerc's tyres have looked in poor condition for the last few laps. The Haas strategy might be paying off, as Mick Schumacher gets past Vettel. Lap 20: Verstappen takes the lead!

Valtteri Bottas was forced to miss Saturday's Formula 1 FP2 session at Imola as his Alfa Romeo team worked to build up the spare chassis for the Finn.

“I trust him on the fact that the adaptation will be quite quick, and he will have a look at the data from Zhou, and have a good understanding. "We expected yesterday to have to do it, but the car is sealed. The loom is going inside the chassis, and it's easier to change it."

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 sprint event to take pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after a fantastic duel with Ferrari's ...

2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint fastest laps Going into the final five laps, Verstappen got into Leclerc’s DRS range as the Ferrari began get encounter some tyre graining. Leclerc led Verstappen and Norris at the restart on Lap 5.

Max Verstappen said the Emilia Romagna Formula 1 sprint turned into a 'waiting game' for him once it became clear race leader Charles Leclerc was suffering ...

But yeah, clearly, we had a bit more pace at the end of the race." "My start was just terrible. "Of course with these cars, it is better to follow.

World champion will start P1 on Sunday and claimed championship eight points, while Lewis Hamilton struggled with his Mercedes and will begin in 14th.

With the victory Verstappen has secured pole for Sunday a potentially vital achievement at Imola where overtaking is difficult. It was a bravura move, perfectly executed and the sort of racing the sprint race has long needed. He was third several laps later, an impressive run and vital for Red Bull so he can play his part in the race tomorrow. Max Verstappen won the sprint race for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola and in doing so secured pole for Sunday’s race. Out front however while Leclerc was in control, Verstappen closed in the final four laps to within a second. Both Hamilton and Russell struggled to make any headway through the field, unsurprisingly with a tricky can on a track where overtaking is far from easy.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen overthrew polesitter Charles Leclerc late on to win the first sprint race of the 2022 Formula 1 season at the Emilia Romagna Grand ...

And Perez kept putting the slipstream out of the final corner for the run into the chicane to good use as he then copied the manoeuvre on Norris with the help of DRS to climb to third. Leclerc had not made an error, as Verstappen brought the gap below a second and then used DRS and the slipstream out of the final corner to bring the difference down to half a second. Leclerc gave his rival space at the first apex, and Verstappen kept within the painted lines to make the move stick before romping to a 1.5s lead before sealing the win by 2.9s. Leclerc settled a little over the 1s threshold for three tours and then on lap seven, set what was at the time the fastest lap of the race to stretch his cushion to 1.5s over the RB18. With the aid of DRS and as his Ferrari rival battled oversteer, Verstappen dived around the outside into Tamburello and kept his car on track to take the win and pole for the full GP on Sunday. Leclerc had nailed his launch and with the kink on the main straight placing him on the inside, he could sprint past a wheel-spinning Verstappen to seize first into Tamburello.

Live coverage of Saturday's F1 Sprint ahead of the the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola in Italy.

Alpine's engine reliability problems at the start of the Formula 1 season have been a consequence of porpoising rather than any inherent design weakness, ...

“We cannot put the engine on the dyno without breaking the seal. “We see that we are not the only one in having small reliability issues. And our problem is that we cannot fully understand the problem without breaking the seal. “The problem we had in Jeddah with Fernando's engine [water pump failure], we already asked for a modification to the FIA. That has been accepted. “The cars are very stiff, are very low, and they have some quite big impact on the car. “The ICE itself is very good.

Lewis Hamilton has ruled Mercedes out of the World Championship title fight just four races into the 2022 Formula One season after a disappointing Emilia ...

The car is faster, but we just don't have the speed in the straight to actually move forwards. "Strategy is going to be key. "We've got work to do. That is all we can hope for right now." "We haven't got it right this year but everyone is working as hard as they can to correct it. "This is the situation that we are faced with and we are obviously not fighting for the Championship but we are fighting to understand this car and improve and progress through the year.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 sprint event to take pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after a fantastic duel with Ferrari's ...

Leclerc led Verstappen and Norris at the restart on Lap 5. Going into the final five laps, Verstappen got into Leclerc’s DRS range as the Ferrari began get encounter some tyre graining. 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint fastest laps

Carlos Sainz believes that he can still win Formula 1's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after bouncing back from a 'painful' Imola qualifying crash to finish ...

"Obviously I'm quick, this is no secret that yesterday I was quick, in Australia I was quick. "But yesterday if you asked me in Q2 did I feel pressure? "That experience will serve me well. "I don't think yesterday's mistake was pressure," he said. I wasn't actually pushing that much. The important thing is to keep learning from these mistakes.

Max Verstappen will start the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix from pole position after snatching victory from Charles Leclerc in the Saturday sprint.

And for the first time this season he got close to admitting that an eighth title was fully out of his grasp this season. There was plenty of shuffling through the field during the sprint as some cars found their natural position in the pack. But the sprint is somewhere in between: a flat-out 100 kilometres on a single set of tyres and with a moderate fuel load. But if they’re off the pace, as they have been in the three races so far this season, it might ironically prove to be ammunition for those against the new weekend format despite the action they were central to generating on Saturday. Therefore any action we get on Saturday — say, from drivers who qualified out of position — is effectively robbed from Sunday, which is supposed to still be the weekend’s main event. “With these cars, it is better to follow, but it’s still very hard to pass. Both drivers will be pleased to have inserted themselves back into the victory conversation for Sunday. Leclerc’s front-left started graining, and all of a sudden Verstappen was all over the back of him. The track then dried out overnight for Saturday practice and the sprint, and teams had to hope the decisions they’d made the day before would translate for dry conditions. But the sprint is also an unusual event in the bigger F1 picture. There’s only one DRS zone this weekend, but it’s around 1100 metres long. It was F1’s fourth sprint experiment and arguably its most successful.

Max Verstappen won the first Sprint of 2022 having passed Charles Leclerc with two laps remaining, to ensure a first-place start for Sunday's Emilia Romagna ...

The championship leader skated away, Verstappen in tow. Green-flag racing would resume on Lap 5, Leclerc leading Verstappen then Norris at the time. Friday's wet qualifying session set the grid for this Sprint, Verstappen having taken pole position over Leclerc with Lando Norris leading Kevin Magnussen off the second row. Gearbox issues put Esteban Ocon 19th for the start of the Sprint and he made up three places for P16 in the Alpine, keeping Gasly – who collided with Zhou at the start and pitted for a nose change – 17th. Magnussen held on for the final point, finishing ahead of Alpine's Fernando Alonso in P9 – who started fifth but couldn't contend with his rivals' pace on the softs – and the other Haas of Mick Schumacher, who took P10 on mediums. It was Leclerc, to a rapturous reception from the tifosi, who took the lead off Verstappen as the lights went out – only for the Safety Car to interrupt proceedings as Zhou Guanyu (DNF) and Pierre Gasly (P19) made contact through Turn 9 on Lap 1.

Mercedes Formula 1 chief Toto Wolff says the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend is a write-off for the team after George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were ...

That will give us an opportunity to fight and move up the grid but I am sure we'll understand a bit more tonight, but it is going to be tricky. The race just isn't long enough to get some tyre degradation there and have some differences between the drivers and the cars, but we have got work to do. We've shown it today but not quickly and therefore beyond the fact that we are learning it's another humbling experience."

Lewis Hamilton has compared his Mercedes W13 with the 2009 McLaren MP4-24, the Formula 1 car he regards as the worst he has ever experienced.

"And unfortunately, we got on track and we didn't see that... And we got there." "But I didn't have the experience at the time. "The new rules said that we would have 50% less downforce in 2009, so they designed the car to have 50%, less downforce! And I have the utmost faith that my team can do that here too." "And I can assure you I have.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has dismissed talk of friction with Lewis Hamilton over their Formula 1 struggles, despite intrigue following an animated ...

And this team, we've done it in the past and we just need to dig ourselves out of that hole." "It's obvious that we are not anywhere near the fight at the front. But it was basically the same point of view and just sheer anger.

Mercedes Formula 1 chief Toto Wolff has admitted the Emilia Romagna GP weekend is a write-off for the team after George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were ...

"It has clearly been a difficult weekend for us, and we probably overachieved in the first few races. That will give us an opportunity to fight and move up the grid but I am sure we'll understand a bit more tonight, but it is going to be tricky. The race just isn't long enough to get some tyre degradation there and have some differences between the drivers and the cars, but we have got work to do.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has dismissed talk of friction with Lewis Hamilton over the team's Formula 1 struggles, despite intrigue following an animated ...

And this team, we've done it in the past and we just need to dig ourselves out of that hole." "It's obvious that we are not anywhere near the fight at the front. But it was basically the same point of view and just sheer anger.

Leclerc, struggling with tyre wear, came home second ahead of Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull, Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari and Lando Norris of McLaren ...

On Lando’s side, we experienced a brake system issue when he did his first run,” McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl told Sky Sports of the problem. This collision prompted a Safety Car intervention while the debris was cleared. “I had a very bad start with too much wheel spin,” said Verstappen. “I had to stay calm. By lap 11, Leclerc led by 1.4 seconds with Perez charging through to third, six seconds adrift, Norris fourth and a charging Ricciardo up to fifth ahead of Sainz, also on a charge for Ferrari, and Magnussen. Mercedes struggled again despite an improved showing in second practice. “I pushed hard at the beginning to try and not be too vulnerable with Max having the DRS behind, and I feel like I’ve paid the price of doing that at the end of the race,” he said.

Max Verstappen said the Emilia Romagna Formula 1 sprint turned into a 'waiting game' for him once it became clear race leader Charles Leclerc was suffering ...

But yeah, clearly, we had a bit more pace at the end of the race." "My start was just terrible. "Of course with these cars, it is better to follow.

Remarkably Friday's Formula 1 qualifying session in Imola was the first time since Japan 2012 that Mercedes did not have a car in Q3.

“So the remit of the power unit people is to focus on that, and look at any fine tuning that we can do to find gains. “We're constantly doing analysis on that,” says Shovlin. “There's areas that we think we can improve in terms of managing the deployment. “But as an aside, we're still working hard to try and understand, get on top and solve the bouncing. We just didn't have the grip that we needed to be quick.” One is, could we could we have run the earlier part of the session better? The developments we brought here, we were aware that they're not going to affect that. But we should be able to perform in the same position that we're racing, which is realistically third-quickest team." “As I said, we still need to understand why we can't match some of the mid-grid teams, even. As I said, we don't know whether there's something else in terms of how we're setting the car up, or how we're approaching the way that we're generating heat in the tyres. “And we've not got to the bottom of it. “On a single lap, a lot of the midfield teams are better than us. In Bahrain it doesn't really cost you, and all the other tracks, it's actually been a bit of a difficulty in qualifying.

Max Verstappen wins bulk of bonus points in qualifying, while Leclerc extends lead in championship.

We didn’t quite know where we were last year with the old cars but I think they can see the way this is feeding into the new cars. It’s like this but it’s only the sprint race and we’ll learn from this to be better tomorrow.” “I tried to push at the beginning to get a bit of a gap and not allow Max to get in the DRS zone, because I knew that I would have been vulnerable in that case. I’m optimistic they’ll all see the value in it. “I think (the teams) can see the success. “We were side-by-side for Turn 1 and I could focus on my own race from that moment onwards,” he said.

As fast as the Mercedes W13 can go on a Formula One race circuit, it still can't escape the porpoise that has been chasing it all year.

Bottas’ surprising success for Alfa Romeo has been mostly under the radar this year, as the Finn seems capable of competing with any of the cars outside the top two teams. With only enough time for one attempt per driver remaining in Q3, Lando Norris spun off the track, effectively ending the session. Mercedes no doubt will be doing everything possible to try and find a solution before the season gets too old, but operating within the F1 budget cap, that means reduced attention to other areas.

Alfa Romeo's Chinese rookie Zhou Guanyu will start from the pit lane for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, after colliding with Pierre Gasly on the first lap ...

Zhou Guanyu will start the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from the pitlane after Alfa Romeo repaired his car under parc ferme conditions following his ...

Furthermore, in breach of Article 40.9, the Competitor was found to have continued to work on the car unsupervised while under parc ferme conditions. “The Competitor admitted that modifications were made to the car. The incident was referred to the FIA stewards who have penalised Zhou with a pitlane start for Sunday’s grand prix.