Verstappen: Good out there but very easy to make mistakes

Last year's dominant winner of the race at Imola last year, Verstappen was in splendid form today during qualifying as he powered to pole position (his 14th in F1) overcoming challenging conditions, at a wet and sometimes very wet Autodromo Internazionale Enzo & Dino Ferrari, to get the best out of his package when it mattered.

After denying Ferrari, Leclerc in particular, a top spot start on home soil, Verstappen said in parc ferme: "It was tricky out there with the rain, well, the dry and the rain. It was slippery and hard to get the tyre temps to work.

"It was hectic but I am very happy to be here, it is an amazing track and it also really punishes you if you make a mistake, you can go into the wall.

"I am really pleased with pole position but I know Saturday and Sunday will be a bit different in terms of weather conditions but this is a good start. Our first three races didn't go to plan but we will try and have a good weekend here."

In the team report, Verstappen added: “It was good out there but also very easy to make mistakes, so luckily we mainly stayed out of trouble. We started on the slicks initially and then it started raining again, making the right call on how you wanted to prep your laps was key today and ultimately we chose the right one, so I’m of course very pleased with that.

The Red Bull ace explained why: "So there won’t be any trouble there, it does cost you lap time but luckily the lap was still good enough for pole.

"Sunday looks to be dry and we haven’t really driven these new cars a lot in the dry here so hopefully in FP2 we can understand the car a bit more in different conditions," added Verstappen.

The Dutchman referencing the fact that the second practice session (normally on Friday afternoon) will kick start the F1 track action at Imola on Saturday, followed by the first Sprint Race of the season later in the day.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is on Sunday, for which Saturday's Sprint Race finishing order will decide the starting grid.

In the sister Red Bull, Sergio Perez was only good for seventh, and was unhappy reporting on his below par-afternoon: “Overall it’s a disappointing day but we need to remember it’s just the start of the weekend. It just didn’t seem to work out for me today, we got a few things wrong.

"It was important to get the temperature on the tyres and we couldn’t seem to get the right out lap, we were just warming up the tyres and then we had another red flag.

"I am pleased with the pace of the car though, I am looking forward to tomorrow, hopefully, we are able to progress through the field during the sprint and get a good start position for the race on Sunday," concluded Perez.