Max Verstappen of Red Bull resisted a late charge from McLaren’s Lando Norris to stretch his lead in the drivers’ championship
Lap 12/63: The headline at the moment is Albon’s dodgy pitstop for Williams. The commentators are trying to work out if he drove off with a loose wheel. It doesn’t look immediately apparent.
Meanwhile, Piastri and Sainz continue to battle for the fourth and final Champions League qualification place.
Lap 11/63: Piastri is right on Sainz’s tail and battling for fourth. That’s where the excitement is right now. Will we see any up front, though?
Lap 10/63: Fastest lap for Verstappen. Meanwhile Albon has an issue with a tyre after his pitstop in the Williams. “The tyre’s not on,” he tells the team. That doesn’t sound ideal.
Lap 9/63: Alonso has pitted for Aston Martin. He wasn’t kidding when he said this was a more a fact-finding mission for the team and that they will struggle to score points. He’s half a minute down at the back. Gasly and Albon have pitted, too.
Lap 8/63: Our race leader Verstappen is head of his good mate Norris by 1.8sec. It’s gradually creeping up. Leclerc is 1.5sec back in third.
Lap 7/63: We are shown on-board footage from the start with Hulkenberg, who got a magnificent start, and stormed past Tsunoda and Ricciardo into turn one. He yelled in celebration on the radio as he did so …
Lap 5/63: Verstappen stretches his lead to 1.5sec, but Norris eats into it again, and then suddenly it’s out to 1.7sec.
A one-stop strategy is expected today. Verstappen is looking set fair after his incredible flying lap in qualifying.
Lap 4/63: Red Bull’s Verstappen leads Norris by around a second. The McLaren driver is showing impressive speed to stay right on his rival’s tail.
Lap 2/63: Hamilton has gained a place for Mercedes and is up to seventh. But it’s as you were in the top six, with Verstappen leading from Norris, then Leclerc, Sainz, Piastri, Russell.
Hulkenberg is also on the march for Haas and has overtaken Ricciardo and Tsunoda and is a place behind Hamilton.
A smooth, fast start for Verstappen. Norris is quick too, but Verstappen streaks into the lead through turn one …
Norris wanted to make his mark at the start, but Verstappen was right on the money.
The cars are on the spot. Here we go …
A pre-race tribute to both Senna and Ratzenberger from Seb Vettel.
Here we go with the formation lap.
The drivers’ standings are here. Verstappen has amassed 136pts from six races. His Red Bull teammate Perez is 33 points behind in second.
The car’s top speed will be 214mph, we are told. Spicy.
We’ll have 63 laps of the 4.909km circuit, making 309.049km total.
Five minutes until lights out. A poignant occasion at Imola as we remember the great Ayrton Senna. I remember that fateful day like it was yesterday.
“Yesterday was good,” says Oscar Piastri, who was impressively quick in qualifying and starts fifth on the grid for McLaren. “I think it’s going to be an interesting race. Because I’m not really sure who’s going to win.”
“That’s the way we like it!” toots Ted Kravitz.
Time for the Italian anthem. Countless Ferrari flags are waving in the crowd, along with a massive Italian flag. Some children stand on the grid and belt out the anthem in style, accompanied by a violinist.
How is the Red Bull’s speed? Polesitter Verstappen speaks: “From our side it [the car] is a bit unknown, on the long runs … we had a better balance in qualifying … that will help for the race. If it’s enough, I don’t know.”
The crowd is a sea of red: The tifosi are out in force.
Karun Chandhok mentioned earlier that Lewis Hamilton, who will drive for Ferrari from next year, has enjoyed a superb reception.
“I’ve always been an F1 fan,” says tennis’s world No 2, Aryna Sabalenka. “I’m super excited to feel the atmosphere. It’s so cool, being here around the cars … it’s something new, something different.
Can Sabalenka imagine speaking to media right before walking on to court for a match? “It’s so different,” she replies. “I cannot see myself doing all this stuff before the biggest match of my life. It’s really cool to see.”
Is she ready for the French Open? “Oh yes.”
Cupping his ears against the noise on the grid, Hugh Grant briefly tells us about his new film, Unfrosted, written by Jerry Seinfeld.
“I play a grand Shakespearean actor who has to be Tony the Tiger in the Kelloggs ad,” Grant says. “And he’s furious about it.”
He adds that he’s hoping for a Ferrari win.
Surprising to see Sergio Perez down in 11th for Red Bull. On telly they mention there are plenty of drivers are looking for a seat for next year …
Meanwhile, the grid is packed with people. There’s Hugh Grant!
Thirty years have passed since Ayrton Senna’s untimely death at the San Marino Grand Prix on 1 May 1994, but the fascination with the mercurial Brazilian driver remains almost as mesmerising as ever it was on the track. His death, at 34, was bitter in prematurely ending a compelling career and a tragedy that deprived Formula One of one of its most captivating characters. His legacy remains, felt keenly across the sport and beyond.
Why not read Giles Richards’ qualifying report before lights out. McLaren look quick again, but pole promises to be crucial …
“Verstappen set the benchmark in Q3 with a 1min 14.869sec lap but with Norris just seven-hundredths down. The blood is up at McLaren, and Verstappen’s unbeaten streak of poles this season looked under threat in the tense final laps. He knew he had to improve and duly did with a 1:14.746 lap, notably better in the second sector where he had struggled. Yet he was taken to the wire, Norris first barrelling in just nine-hundredths back, with Piastri then claiming second only seven-hundredths in arrears, before his penalty promoted his teammate to the front row.
McLaren’s climb back to the front of the grid has been long, slow and sometimes painful but with the raft of upgrades they have on this car now proving themselves, they are back in the game. However Imola is an altogether different prospect to Miami. It is a majestic circuit, a glorious place to watch racing and much loved by drivers, but it is narrow, testing and with little margin for error, overtaking is a tricky task at best. Pole is crucial and Verstappen has it, as Norris noted.”
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2 Lando Norris (McLaren)
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
6 George Russell (Mercedes)
7 Yuki Tsunoda (RB Honda)
8 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
9 Daniel Ricciardo (RB Honda)
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
11 Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
12 Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
13 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
14 Alexander Albon (Williams)
15 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
16 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
17 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)
18 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
19 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
20 Logan Sargeant (Williams)
What do you think? Can Norris do it again? Email me.
Lando Norris has a chat on his prospects for today: “We’ve continued the good run of good form, the good pace … today we need to prove we’ve still got good race pace. We had a fairly good indication of that on Friday.
“Things are looking good, we’re in a good position, I think we can bring the fight to Max.”
Will he aim to get ahead of Verstappen into turn one? “It’s my plan, but executing plans is always a tricky thing. We’ve got to make the most of the start.”
The Sky reporter spots Verstappen walking alongside them and tells the champion that Lando is planning to overtake him at the start.
“Yeah, he can do that,” Verstappen says, smiling. “It’s not going to change my life. It’s exciting.”
Back to Norris, on Verstappen: “We get on well. We’re good mates. I’m sure he hates it when I beat him. I hate it when he beats me all the time, especially so easily. I hope that’s not the case today.”
We’ve already had plenty of Ayrton Senna tributes on the Sky coverage. Sebastian Vettel pointed out that that horrible weekend, when Roland Ratzenberger died in qualifying before Senna in the race, was a catalyst for significant improvements in driver safety.
Now they are running some Lando Norris VT, including the team’s celebrations back at base. The universally popular Norris clearly relishing the celebrations with the entire McLaren team.
Hold the back page: Max Verstappen’s monotonous march to another title was interrupted in Miami a couple of weeks ago when McLaren’s Lando Norris scored his first grand prix win at the 110th attempt.
Verstappen and Red Bull then endured a challenging start to this meeting before the reigning world champion produced a stunning qualifying lap to score his eighth consecutive pole, matching the great Ayrton Senna’s record.
It is fitting that Verstappen achieved the feat at Imola, scene of Senna’s tragic death 30 years ago. “It is very special,” Verstappen said of bouncing back for pole and matching the late Brazilian’s mark. “I am very pleased to get pole and in a way it’s a nice memory to him.”
Fresh from his maiden grand prix win, Norris is second on the grid in his McLaren, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari. But can anyone stop Verstappen?
Lights out: 2pm UK time