Verstappen pips McLarens for Imola pole to match Senna record
World champion Max Verstappen rebounded from practice problems when he maintained his 100% record this season in race qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and tied a Formula One record with Ayrton Senna.
Red Bull's Verstappen clocked 1 minute 14.746 seconds on Saturday around the 4.909-kilometres Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari for his seventh season and 39th career pole just ahead of the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
But Piastri was later handed a three-place penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen's Haas and ended up fifth, moving Norris to the front row for Sunday's race.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz qualified fourth and fifth respectively and now start third and fourth for Ferrari at the Italian team’s home event.
Verstappen found some extra pace after coming fifth, sixth and seventh in the three Imola practice sessions, saying via team radio "What a difficult start but we turned it around."
Verstappen pipped Piastri a fraction of .071 of a second, with Norris also within one-tenth.
Verstappen has won pole for all seven grands prix this term, and having also topped qualifying in the 2023 season-ender matched the eight poles in a row the late Senna achieved in 1988 and 1989 before dying in crash on the same Imola track in 1994.
"It's a great start to the year and very special. It's 30 years since he passed away, so very pleased to get pole and in a way it's a nice memory to him. He was an incredible F1 driver," Verstappen said.
The Dutchman, who was beaten only in qualifying for the sprint race in China last month by Norris, added: "A difficult weekend so far, even this morning. Incredibly happy to be on pole here. I didn't expect that.
"We made some final changes before qualifying and they seemed to make it feel better. I could push harder.
"This track is unbelievable. To be on the limit here in Qualifying, close to the gravel, I touched the gravel in the last corner. The adrenaline is very, very high."
There was bad news for team-mate Sergio Perez who missed the final shoot-out and will start from 11th place on Sunday, and even more for Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso who had to settle for 19th after both crashed earlier in the day in final practice.
Red Bull have won all but one of the 22 races held in 2023, but have already been beaten twice in six events this year thanks to Sainz in Australia and Norris last time out in Miami.
Norris said: "We are getting closer. To be ahead of Ferrari is also a nice result for us. It's going to be close, it's going to be a good race tomorrow.
"Hopefully it's an exciting one. Tough, especially when the lap times are so tight. A lot of it is down to Lap One, strategy and the pit stops. It's going to be a tough race"
Verstappen leads the championship, 33 points ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, with Leclerc another five back.
