2021 Emilia Romagna Formula 1 GP – Qualification | Dro’s Live Commentary
Q3
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| Yuki Tsunoda who crashed during Qualification 1 at 2021 Emilia Romagna GP of Formula 1 | Image: Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | |
Yuki Tsunoda crashed. At 12:01 Q1 Red Flag. He is ok but his car is damaged at the back. On the replay, the back of the car looks completely smashed. Does Tsunoda will be able to race tomorrow?! However, I have to mention that during the FP3 Tsunoda was a little bit nervous about the traffic. So, as it is told: “Keep Calm and Keep Racing”.
The session will restart
at 14:15 track time.
Meanwhile, the drivers are
preparing at the end of the pit lane. Who is the first driver to get back on
the race track?
If I’m not
wrong - that's Perez. This is a live commentary. So everything happens while I’m writing the
post.
There are a bit over 10
minutes. We have Stroll’s best time 1:16.082. It’s about 2 seconds more than
the best times during FP3.
Several drivers made around
1:15 as the latest best lap time belongs to Max Verstappen 1:15… and Bottas
made 1:14.926, Verstappen +0.183.
Lando Norris has a new set
of tires on P2. He made +0.083 after the Bottas on P1.
We’re are following Perez
at 7:01. He has S1 Green; S2 Yellow; S3… and 1:15.359 P7
1:15.445 Gazly’s time was
deleted by the Race Control due to not following the race track limits.
A lot of drivers exceeding track limits on Turn 9 which leads to deletion of their lap time.
By the way, I saw people
who compared the Moto GP and the F1 track limits. As long as the bikes can be
exactly on the line the F1 cars are going a little bit wider when exiting the turns. I do
understand that these people don’t know a lot about racing. The Race Control is
very strict about the race track limits and if somebody is overtaken outside of
the track he has full rights to complain about it. Moreover, a lot of the best
times were deleted during the FP3 and the Qualification.
Let’s get back to the race track we have 8 seconds to go on Q1.
Bottas’s time is 1:14.672 P1;
Hamilton’s time is +0.283 P2; Norris’s time is +0.337 on P3; Verstappen’s time is +0.437 on P4.
Q2
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| Lewis Hamilton gets out of the box during Qualification - 2021 Emilia Romagna GP of Formula 1 | Image: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team; Copyright: Daimler AG | |
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas get out of the box on medium compound tires. In front of them, Nicholas Latifi and Pierre Gasly. We have 15 drivers to set the best time to participate in the Q1 for Pole position on Sunday’s race. The drivers are going to make some formation laps and we’re going to follow what will be improvements on the matter of lap time.
11:54 Following Bottas S1 – Green. Verstappen S1 –
Purple; Hamilton S1 – Green.
Boatts S2 - Green; Hamilton S2 - Green; Verstappen S2
green.
Valtteri Bottas S3 green 1:15.098.
Max Verstappen another Purple on Sector 3 and
1:14.884.
Hamilton S3 - Purple P1 with 1:14.817.
After the first lap, we have Hamilton, Verstappen,
Bottas.
Bottas’s time was deleted due to not following Race Track
limits. Vettel’s time too.
ad
10 minutes to go.
9:05 Following Perez S1 - Green; S2- Purple; S3
– Green; Lap Time 1:15.106 for P4.
Alonso S1 – Green; S2 - Green;
Ocon S1 – Green; S2 – Green;
Alonso made S3 green best time 1:15.980 for P7 +1.163
after Hamilton.
Let’s get back to Ocon’s time S3 – green with 1:16.115
lap time and +1.298 behind Hamilton.
8:05 Norris made S1 – P; S2 – Purple; S3 – Green; and
he gets fastest lap time for P1 with 1:14.718 -0.099 in front of Hamilton
already P2. Norris is on soft tires.
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| Lando Norris sets some of the best times during the Qualification - 2021 Emilia Romagna GP of Formula 1 | Image: McLaren F1 Team | |
5 minutes to go
3:13 Vettel set 1:15.394 best time for P7.
0:16 Perez sets 1:14.176 P1; Norris +0.002 P2,
Leclerc +0.092 P3, Hamilton +0.101 P4, Verstappen +0.168 P5, Bottas P6.
Q3
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| Sergio Perez - Qualification - 2021 Emilia Romagna GP of Formula 1 |Image: Red Bull Racing Honda | |
We have 10 drivers to fight for the Pole position. As
we saw from Q2 it will be quite interesting. We have Perez, Norris, Leclerc on the
top 3. Mercedes’ drivers are P4 and P6, Max Verstappen on P5.
We have Perez, Noris, Gasly – the first drivers on the
race track for Q1. Hamilton and Bottas are going out on soft tires.
10 minutes to go and Norris starts his first flying
lap. S1 – Purple; S2 – Purple; S3 – Purple; Lap Time: 1:14.875 P1. Ricardo
1:16.06. Ocon 1:15.317.
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| Lewis Hamilton set the best lap time of 1:14.411 for P1 - Qualification - 2021 Emilia Romagna GP of Formula 1 | Image: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team / Copyright: Daimler AG | |
Perez 1:14.66 P1. Hamilton made 1:14.411, then Verstappen 1:14.502 P2. Leclerc 1:14… +0.510 P5.
Both Lewis and Max are on soft tires.
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| When the Imola Race Track is in your back yard and Max Verstappen is drving sometime during Qualification/FP3 on medium tires - 2021 Emilia Romagna GP of Formula 1 | Image: Red Bull Racing Honda | |
6:05 Max, Lewis, and Valtteri are in the box.
For the fastest lap, Lewis is going on Soft tires. Max
too. Valtteri also on red-colored tires.
2 minutes to go
Hamilton holds 1:14.411 P1. Is it enough or he will
make it better?
0:50 Norris S1– Purple; S2 – Green; S3 – Green;
1:14.454 P2 after Hamilton. Unfortunately due to the track limit violation, Norris’s
time is deleted.
0:00 Verstappen P3, Perez P2, Hamilton’s time remains
1:14.411 P1.
Hamilton’s team is a little bit surprised about their
times. This means that they didn’t expect to make it. However, they did it.
Thus Lewis Hamilton has his 99th Pole Position. Meanwhile, they
could have something in mind about setting the best time because Valtteri
Bottas is on P8.
For the first time, Red Bull Honda has both cars on P2
and P3. Well done. Great Job. Tomorrow it will be difficult for Lewis Hamilton
who is going to be chased by Perez and Verstappen for Turn 1.
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| Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen after the Qualification 2021 Emilia Romagna GP of Formula 1 | Image: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team / Copyright: Daimler AG | |
