Max Verstappen qualifies ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Oracle Red Bull racing driver and defending champion Max Verstappen secured pole position ahead of Charles Leclerc after initially losing pole position to the inform Ferrari driver.

Verstappen recorded the fastest time in Friday's sessions and started the sprint qualifiers at the front of the grid but after some early technical issues, the Dutchman saw his lead taken by Charles Leclerc.

Charles Leclerc was in the lead for most of the Sprint qualifiers Imago

Karma soon levelled the playing field with around three laps to go as the Ferrari driver began to experience issues of his own. Verstappen soon closed the gap before overtaking his counterpart. There was no time for Ferrari to retake the lead, and Verstappen saw out the race to claim his second pole of the season.

Charles Leclerc (L) and Max verstappen came together to congratulate each other after a thrilling race Imago

Speaking after the race, Verstappen acknowledged his car played a major part in his early misfortunes and stated that the issues need to be looked at as soon as possible.

"I mean, my start was just terrible, and I didn’t have gear sync for whatever reason, so I need to see exactly what went wrong.

“When I let the clutch go, there was a lot of wheelspin and no traction, so my start was very, very poor. After the Safety Car restart, it seemed like initially Charles [Leclerc] was very quick and he was actually pulling away like a tiny bit, lap after lap, but then at one point the tyre deg came into play and it seemed like from that point on, I could actually close the gap again,” Verstappen said.

Mercedes continued their underwhelming start to the campaign, with George Russell finishing in 11th and Sir Lewis Hamilton finishing in 14th place.

Sir Lewis Hamilton finished in 14th place Imago

The other talking point from Saturday's sprint was the sensational retirement of Zhou Guanyu, who crashed barely three minutes into the race. The Chinese driver will start at the back of the grid on Sunday as he accidentally made contact with Pierre Gasly before crashing into the barrier.

Zhou being taken back to the paddocks on a scooter Imago

The final grid for the Grand Prix is as follows:

Max Verstappen

2. Charles Leclerc

3. Sergio Perez

4. Carlos Sainz

5. Lando Norris

6. Daniel Ricciardo

7. Valtteri Bottas

8. Kevin Magnussen

9. Fernando Alonso

10. Mick Schumacher

11. George Russell

12. Yuki Tsunoda

13. Sebastian Vettel

14. Sir Lewis Hamilton

15. Lance Stroll

16. Esteban Ocon

17. Pierre Gasly

18. Alex Albon

19.Nicholas Latifi

20. Zhou

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will take place at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari track on Sunday April 24.

Max Verstappen bounces back to steal pole position ahead of Ferrari for Emilia Romagna GP

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