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Valtteri Bottas claimed pole for Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, beating his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton for second place, but much of the talk in the paddock revolved around the possibility of a lockout. full national in England next week. Mercedes and six of the 10 other F1 teams are based in England and while this weekend’s race will not be affected, it is understood that the constructors expect to have to adapt to the situation as restrictions are applied. , with four more meetings. scheduled for this season.
Bottas claimed pole with a huge lap at Imola, denying Hamilton by a tenth of a second, with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull a half-second down in third. However, with the British government expected to launch a second lockdown on England on Wednesday that will last until December 1 and will close all but essential shops and educational settings, there were concerns about how the sport of elite. Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, Williams, Racing Point, Haas and Renault are based in England.
Neither F1 nor the FIA issued an official statement, but F1 is understood to believe that since teams and staff were able to travel to the race during the first period of restrictions, similar rules are likely to apply again. This will be the thirteenth race of the 17 o’clock season. The next round will be in two weeks in Turkey. It is expected to be followed by a triple final title, which will begin on November 19 with two races in Bahrain and then conclude in Abu Dhabi. These will be treated as a single three-week event, with staff traveling in a bubble on a charter flight and not returning home during that time.
The teams declined to comment formally as government guidance has yet to be issued, but it is understood that they are confident that they can continue to compete given the success of F1’s Covid protocols thus far. The sport has run 60,000 tests, with only 54 positive results over four months. The first race of this season was held on July 5 in Austria, before the end of the strictest period of the UK’s first lockdown.
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl reflected his confidence in the paddock. “The situation is dynamic but there are no changes in the plans, we still plan to go ahead with all the races to come. We have to see it that way, ”he said. “We are quite flexible as an F1 team in terms of adapting to the new circumstances, all the British teams are in one boat so it would be a common problem for all of these teams, but I am sure we can overcome it along the way, as we have already done. seen this year. “
At Imola, Hamilton initially seemed to have saved the best for when it really mattered. Bottas had led Q1 and Q2, but on his first lap in Q3, Hamilton had the advantage, fastest with a time of 1 minute 13.781 seconds, three hundredths above his teammate. The British driver was immense in the final sector, right on the edge through the Rivazza double-vertex corner.
However, it was not enough as Bottas returned with an excellent lap. In the second hot races, he found even more time with a perfect one-inch run, putting up nearly a tenth on Hamilton. Pierre Gasly was an impressive fourth for AlphaTauri and Daniel Ricciardo fifth for Renault.
Bottas’ 15th career pole is the fourth of the season and the second in three races, having also secured first place at the Nürburgring. That race weekend did not end well for the Finn, being overtaken by Hamilton before retiring due to a power problem.
Bottas and all the drivers and teams had to quickly catch up at Imola. F1 is testing holding this meeting for two days instead of the usual three this weekend, with a view to potentially adopting the format in the future. There was no practice on Friday, instead just a one-and-a-half hour session on Saturday morning in which Hamilton was the fastest, just under three tenths ahead of Verstappen, with Bottas one tenth lower in the third place.
Hamilton occupies a dominant position in the championship. He leads Bottas by 77 points, with five races remaining. He cannot claim the title in Imola, but he can finish it in the next round in Turkey. A 78-point lead after Istanbul would be enough to do it.
Mercedes, however, is in every condition to make history here. They lead Red Bull by 209 points and a fourth or better from either driver would be enough to seal their seventh title in a row, beating the record they hold alongside Ferrari, which achieved six between 1999 and 2004.
Alexander Albon was sixth for Red Bull, Charles Leclerc seventh for Ferrari. Daniil Kvyat was eighth for AlphaTauri and the McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz in ninth and tenth. Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll came in 11th and 15th.
Renault’s Esteban Ocon was 12th, with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari 14th. George Russell ranked 13th for Williams.
Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were 16th and 17th for Haas. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi were 18th and 20th, with Nicholas Latifi’s Williams 19th.
