Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying Report

The big news in Formula One, now feels like old news; it is all change at Alpine with a new driver and a departing team principal.  It seems Briatore is now the TP.  The Lesser-spotted Colapinto, who has done less press this season and last than he really should, has become the second driver (well, third technically and you're only allowed four per season).  Jack Doohan was still at the track and was paraded as one of  the Alpine stable's pit ponies.

There was some worry about tyres and rain but they wouldn't be the biggest troubles on the day.

Only three minutes into the first session, it was Red Flagged when Tsunoda had a huge smash.  No one wants to see this in a circuit famed for deaths in the past.  He just hit the kerb poorly and ran into the barrier at a high speed and at such an angle that the car was tipped into rolling fully around.  Somehow, he climbed out of the car by himself with no help.

It looked like Colapinto would be in trouble, as he came into the pit lane too early to queue.  His troubles wouldn't stop there though.  As the chequered flag was waved, he too had a huge smash.  It was fully nose on and looked like a big impact.  Bearman was unlucky as he crossed the line just after the Red Flag was shown.  Deciding whether he or Bortoleto was through delayed the start time of the next session.  Out went Colapinto, Lawson, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Bearman and Tsunoda.

When they did go out, it was all much more straight forward, with the minor annoyance of lots of traffic on track.  Lots of teams brought upgrades to this circuit, the Aston Martin ones really seeming to make a difference, Ferraris' less so.  At the end of the session, Sainz put in a quick lap out of nowhere in his Williams to take first.  Then Gasly went quick in the remaining Alpine and knocked out home track hero (not much mentioned about this in the media though) Antonelli.  At the last gasp, the Ferraris were sitting in 9th and 10th but both Aston Martins were on track.  They both put in good enough laps for the top 10 and knocked the prancing horses out; LeClerc was much more despondent than Hamilton afterwards.  The middle five were LeClerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Bortoleto and Colapinto.  All the Italian hope (apart from the Racing Bulls) was out.

As the only rookie in the final Qualifying session, Hadjar was putting such a great performance in that he risks being called up to the Big Team.  Norris doesn't seem to be able to challenge Piastri anymore, even Russell was able to get ahead of him; later we were shown a shot of him being propelled up into the air over a kerb but whatever the cause these things seem to bother him more than his team mate.  He criticised his Q3 performance over the season so far.  The top ten finished with Piastri on pole and then Verstappen, Russell, Norris, Alonso, Sainz, Albon, Stroll, Hadjar and Gasly.

With a Qualifying session like this, the chances of a Safety Car for the race must be high.  It would be interesting to see whether the Racing Bull, Aston Martins and Williams could stay in the points during the race.