Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Imola, 2024

Verstappen’s shot at pole record faces double threat from Ferrari and McLaren

2024 Emilia-Romagna GP practice analysis

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It has been nearly 700 days since the last time Charles Leclerc scored a grand prix victory.

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He was Max Verstappen’s closest championship rival in 2022, but not since the 11th round of that season in Austria has the darling of Ferrari climbed onto the top step of the podium.

His team has won since then – twice, in fact – but both times courtesy of his team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr. Even George Russell and Lando Norris have both won a grand prix in that time.

While Red Bull and Verstappen have clearly been the favourites through the first quarter of the 2024 season, winning four of the first six grands prix, there were some expecting that McLaren could be just as quick – if not quicker – than the world champions at Imola. But on the first day of practice at Imola, to the joy of the partisan crowd, Leclerc put his Ferrari fastest in both sessions.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Imola, 2024
Not for the first time this year, Verstappen had a patchy Friday
There was, however, a caveat. Although Leclerc was the only driver to get under 1’16s on Friday, Norris probably should have been comfortably quickest. After 17 of the 18 corners of his qualifying simulation, Norris was well over half a second quicker than Leclerc’s ultimate best. However, a mistake at the exit of the second Rivazza ruined what would have surely been the best lap of the day, ensuring Leclerc would keep the top spot. For now, at least.

But McLaren had more to feel confident about heading into Saturday than just Norris’s one-lap pace. At the end of second practice, the long-run pace of Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri was stronger than any other team. On the medium rubber, Piastri’s average pace of 1’20.687 was almost two tenths quicker than his team mate and three tenths faster than Leclerc over a ten lap average. It was little wonder Piastri – running the full McLaren upgrades package for the first time – was pleased.

“I think it’s been one of our better Fridays and we seem to be in a pretty good place,” said Piastri. “It’s very tight out there so we’ll see what we can find for tomorrow, but it’s been an encouraging day. I’ve felt pretty comfy from the first lap this morning, so I’m excited for tomorrow.”

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Red Bull were slower than Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes on the time sheets and their long run pace also failed to match that of the McLarens and Ferraris on the medium compound – Mercedes opting for the hards instead. Verstappen was visibly uncomfortable in the handling of his car throughout the day and admitted his team would have ‘improve on a few things’ if they were going to fight for pole position on Saturday.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Imola, 2024
Norris slipped up on what would have been his best time
It means that Verstappen’s impressive run of poles could be under serious threat of being broken this weekend. Stretching back to last year’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the world champion has been on pole for the last seven grand prix Sundays and could tie Ayrton Senna’s all-time record of eight consecutive poles tomorrow, as well as the record for the most pole positions at the start of a season, held by Alain Prost. Verstappen will need to find more time out of his car by the end of Saturday’s final practice session to continue this record form.

Beyond the question of who will take pole, it appears that qualifying will be a particularly stressful one for drivers. As already demonstrated in second practice, with Lewis Hamiltonupsetting both Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen by getting in their way and Leclerc expressing his displeasure at Sergio Perez for the same slight, traffic is going to be a major concern for everyone throughout the three phases of the grid-setting session.

Similarly, despite the reintroduction of many gravel traps around the circuit, there remains a serious chance that drivers could see many of their times deleted for running outside of the lines at a variety of turns. In Friday’s Formula 2 qualifying session, a total of 14 laps were deleted by the stewards for drivers running wide at the Villeneuve chicane, Piratella, Acque Minerali, Variante Alta and the exit of the second Rivazza. And that count of 14 only came after several times originally deleted by the stewards were reinstated after further review.

Although F2 pole winner Gabriel Bortoleto and Ferrari junior Oliver Bearmanboth questioned the necessity of having times deleted for exceeding track limits when the gravel traps on corner exits are supposed to provide a natural punishment for running wide, F1’s drivers will have to face the same parameters as their junior counterparts on Saturday.

Leclerc may not have taken a victory since that race weekend at the Red Bull Ring two summers ago, but he has successfully secured eight pole positions since that weekend. Norris, on the other hand, has a habit of making crucial mistakes when the pressure is highest at the end of qualifying. If Verstappen is unable to wring enough lap time from his Red Bull for qualifying, then there could be an intense shootout between the Ferraris and McLarens for the top spot on the grid instead.

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Combined practice times

P. # Driver Team FP1 time FP2 time Gap Laps
1 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’16.990 1’15.906 59
2 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1’17.807 1’16.098 0.192 55
3 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB-Honda RBPT 1’17.388 1’16.286 0.380 61
4 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’17.408 1’16.297 0.391 56
5 63 George Russell Mercedes 1’17.094 1’16.311 0.405 60
6 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Ferrari 1’17.120 1’16.423 0.517 55
7 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1’17.240 1’16.447 0.541 44
8 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1’17.233 1’16.552 0.646 48
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Haas-Ferrari 1’21.059 1’16.826 0.920 48
10 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’17.867 1’16.838 0.932 47
11 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB-Honda RBPT 1’18.142 1’16.967 1.061 58
12 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1’17.602 1’16.980 1.074 47
13 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’18.072 1’16.991 1.085 48
14 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 1’18.612 1’17.008 1.102 60
15 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault 1’17.905 1’17.064 1.158 53
16 77 Valtteri Bottas Sauber-Ferrari 1’18.827 1’17.088 1.182 51
17 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’17.129 1.223 32
18 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1’20.050 1’17.135 1.229 31
19 24 Zhou Guanyu Sauber-Ferrari 1’19.129 1’17.606 1.700 46
20 2 Logan Sargeant Williams-Mercedes 1’19.901 1’17.848 1.942 44
21 50 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1’18.667 2.761 31

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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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20 comments on “Verstappen’s shot at pole record faces double threat from Ferrari and McLaren”

  1. Tristan
    17th May 2024, 22:56

    Norris, on the other hand, has a habit of making crucial mistakes when the pressure is highest at the end of qualifying.

    I’d just replace that by saying has a habit of pushing his car beyond its limit.

    It’s not as if it happens just in qualifying, it’s practice too, clearly.

    1. Profile Photo

      Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
      18th May 2024, 0:04

      To find the limit you need to push past it, and where better to do so than in practice?

      1. Tristan
        18th May 2024, 2:19

        For sure, not a criticism. If anything a compliment on how hard he works the car.

        His (introspective) narrative is that they’re mistakes. My narrative is that he’s extracting the absolute maximum and that involves going over the limit sometimes.

    2. Nick T.
      18th May 2024, 2:27

      I think the driver formerly known as Lando Nowins won’t struggle from those mistakes anymore in quali (or much more rarely due to finally getting that first win). Does he have an F1 pole yet? (non-sprint)

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        Esploratore (@esploratore1)
        18th May 2024, 2:50

        Yes, but only 1: russia 2021, which should’ve really been his first win, if not for an unlucky gamble on tyres the last few laps.

        In qualifying there were unusual conditions, I think a drying track, which means 3 drivers who dared try on slicks benefitted, if I recall norris, sainz and russell.

      2. Jonathan Parkin
        18th May 2024, 5:09

        @NickT Not Qualifying on pole position isn’t a bad thing. It helps but not doing so didn’t harm the likes of Niki Lauda who only got (I think) one pole when he returned to F1 after his sabbatical in the eighties

  2. mars
    17th May 2024, 23:00

    “Norris probably should have been comfortably quickest. After 17 of the 18 corners of his qualifying simulation, Norris was well over half a second quicker than Leclerc’s ultimate best.”

    That’s wrong. Noris was 0.542 faster than Leclerc’s bet lap on mediums (1:16.667) not his best lap on softs which was 1:15.906 (Leclerc lapped over 0.7 sec faster on softs than his best lap on mediums). F1TV showed ultimate lap times of drivers after FP2 and Charles was fastest, closely followed by Max and Nando.

    1. Tristan
      17th May 2024, 23:09

      Not sure, do you have the 2 sector times for Norris’ fast lap? What you’re saying would put him behind Piastri, which would be nice but doesn’t align with your F1TV provided positions either.

      1. mars
        18th May 2024, 0:47

        No, I’m sure, when Norris was lapping on soft tires the best time of the day was 1:16.667 set by Leclerc on mediums (re_watched it from F1TV and checked again). Noris was faster than that lap by 0.542sec when he crossed the second sector, but then he made an error and returned to the pits before he finished the last sector.
        Ultimate lap times shown by F1TV after FP2 were based on the fastest sector times of drivers and, according to that, Leclerc was slightly faster than Max and Noris.

        1. Tristan
          18th May 2024, 1:40

          Cool, good information thanks.

    2. Profile Photo

      Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
      17th May 2024, 23:12

      Is ultimate lap times like expected goals – something that never happened?

      1. Nick T.
        18th May 2024, 2:30

        A lot of the data points on those AWS sponsored projections are clearly bogus. I’d like to see what datapoints they use to construct them.

  3. Jungle
    18th May 2024, 2:23

    Well this is shaping up to be an interesting weekend.

    1. Harsha Vardhan Maagalam
      18th May 2024, 4:26

      The reality is it’s not going to be

      1. Jay
        18th May 2024, 7:57

        Yeah, Verstappen is going to win every race and get every pole position. ’24 season is done and dusted. /s Doomers are a funny bunch.

    2. Profile Photo

      Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
      18th May 2024, 8:46

      I’m starting to feel quite up-beat for the rest of the season.
      The times they (seem to be) a changin ;)

  4. Profile Photo

    DaveW (@dmw)
    18th May 2024, 2:46

    There will be a lot of track limits strikes tomorrow. Watching today I didn’t see a single fast lap without a clear violation. Tsunoda on pole after a wild string of lap deletions.

    1. Charlie Racing
      18th May 2024, 7:31

      Sign me up!

  5. Stephen Taylor
    18th May 2024, 10:42

    According to Karun Chandhok on Sky Norris went over track limit at both Rivazzas’ so in qualyifying even before his probl That being said I think it is good that Norris actually seems to have found the limit in practice for once.

    1. Tristan
      18th May 2024, 11:17

      Preach! But they tend to delete these comments now :(

Comments are closed.