Max Verstappen overhauled fast-starting Charles Leclerc to claim top spot on the grid for Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Verstappen dropped behind Leclerc off the line during the 21-lap Sprint but remained within sight of the Ferrari driver throughout the short race.
Verstappen used DRS on the penultimate lap to go around the outside of Leclerc into Turn 1 in order to secure the maximum eight points and first place for Sunday’s race.
Leclerc collected second place to extend his overall title lead to 40 points over new nearest opponent Carlos Sainz.
Sainz recovered from the foot of the top 10 to fourth, behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Lando Norris dropped from third to fifth and will front an all-McLaren third row on Sunday’s grid, with Daniel Ricciardo sixth.
Valtteri Bottas recovered from a subdued first lap to take seventh while Kevin Magnussen’s Medium tyre gamble backfired as he slipped from fourth to eighth.
Fernando Alonso was another to relinquish four positions as he lost ground at the start before ceding further spots to drop to ninth.
Mick Schumacher rounded out the top 10 on a day in which Mercedes once again struggled.
George Russell was 11th while Lewis Hamilton took only 14th after a poor first lap.
Yuki Tsunoda was 12th as Sebastian Vettel dropped from ninth on the grid to 13th, with Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll 15th.
Esteban Ocon made little ground from his low-key grid spot and will line up from 16th on Sunday.
Pierre Gasly was 17th after a first-lap clash with Zhou Guanyu, which left the Alfa Romeo driver in the wall, while Williams took 18th and 19th, Alex Albon in front of Nicholas Latifi.
Sunday’s 62-lap Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is scheduled for 15:00 local time
Position
Driver
Team
Gap
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
2
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
2.975
3
Sergio Perez
Red Bull
4.721
4
Carlos Sainz Jr
Ferrari
17.578
5
Lando Norris
McLaren
24.561
6
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren
27.740
7
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo
28.133
8
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
30.712
9
Fernando Alonso
Alpine
32.278
10
Mick Schumacher
Haas
33.773
11
George Russell
Mercedes
36.284
12
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
38.298
13
Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin
40.177
14
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
41.459
15
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
42.910
16
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
43.517
17
Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri
43.794
18
Alex Albon
Williams
48.871
19
Nicholas Latifi
Williams
52.017
20
Guanyu Zhou
Alfa Romeo
DNF
