Starting From 1st In The Italian GP F1 Sprint Race, Max Verstappen: This Is A Very Good Start

Red Bull Racing F1 driver Max Verstappen. (Photo: Twitter @redbullracing)

JAKARTA - Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen will start the Italian GP F1 sprint race from the front. He must be vigilant because the Ferrari driver, Carles Leclerc, will start in second position.

Max Verstappen took his first pole position of the season after being fastest in qualifying on Friday, April 22. The 2021 F1 world champion recorded a best lap of 1:27,999.

"The conditions were difficult out there, dry, rainy, very slippery. Very busy qualification, took a long time but in the end I am very happy here," said Verstappen, as reported by Antara.

"It's an amazing track, I know Saturday and Sunday the weather will be different but it's a really good start to the weekend."

After Leclerc topped the FP1 record, the rain eased ahead of qualifying and the drivers took to the track on soft tires in Q1.

He returned to appear fastest in Q1 ahead of Verstappen. It rained heavily in Q2 and Verstappen topped the record before Carlos Sainz crashed in P2.

The riders had to change intermediate tires in the final qualifying session and Verstappen scored his best lap early in Q3. That was before Valtteri Bottas crashed into the red flag for the fourth time that afternoon with three minutes remaining.

Trailing by nearly 0.8 seconds, Leclerc had one last chance to try to steal pole position from the reigning champions, but Lando Norris found his car skidding off the track in the final seconds of Q3.

Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen took his Haas car to P4 and Fernando Alonso completed the top five for the Alpine team.

P6 was occupied by Norris' partner, Daniel Ricciardo, while Sergio Perez brought the second Red Bull car to P7, ahead of Bottas, Vettel, and Carlos Sainz who had to start from P10.

Mercedes again had to be disappointed when both of its drivers were eliminated in Q3. George Russell will start the sprint from P11 and Lewis Hamilton from P13.

Imola marks the start of the F1 European tour this season and is the site of the first of three sprint races scheduled for this year.

With a sprint race format, qualification was moved forward Friday afternoon to determine the starting position for the 100 km race on Saturday.

The sprint race finish position itself determines the starting grid for the main race on Sunday.

Unlike last year, the driver who took pole position in Friday's qualifying will make his name in the Formula 1 record books.

The sprint race itself now provides points for riders who finish in the top eight, compared to last year's only available for the top three positions.