“I didn’t expect that”: Max Verstappen surprised after beating Lando Norris and Ferraris for pole at Imola GP

Max Verstappen claimed that his pole position in the Imola Grand Prix qualifying session was unexpected having struggled throughout the first two practice sessions on Friday. The three-time world champion pulled in a magical lap at the end of the Q3 session to finish ahead of the McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

Verstappen's pole time of 1:14:746 was only 0.079s quicker than the Aussie and only a tenth better than Piastri's teammate Lando Norris, who finished his qualifying in P3.

The Dutch driver was delighted with his performance and was visibly ecstatic about his lap on the team radio, saying:

"Come on let's go! That's definitely a really good position. What a difficult start but we turned it around. Thank you everyone. That's fantastic. Really happy."

In his post-race interview with F1TV, Max Verstappen alluded to making changes ahead of the all-important qualifying that made a difference for him in terms of performance. He said:

"A difficult weekend so far, even this morning. Incredibly happy to be on pole here. I didn't expect that. We made some final changes before Qualifying and they seemed to make it feel better. I could push harder."

"This track is unbelievable. To be on the limit here in Qualifying, close to the gravel, I touched the gravel in the last corner. The adrenaline is very, very high."

Max Verstappen expresses his gratitude after matching Ayrton Senna's record in Imola

Max Verstappen stated that he was 'very pleased' to match Ayrton Senna's record of eight consecutive pole positions at a track where the Brazilian lost his life 30 years ago.

He told the media:

"It's a great start to the year and very special. It's 30 years since he passed away, so very pleased to get pole, and in a way it's a nice memory to him. He was an incredible F1 driver, especially in Qualifying. A great day for him, a great day for the team. I'm very, very happy."

With an expected pole position on Saturday, Max Verstappen would hope to convert it into yet another race win in the 2024 season and make it a hattrick of victories in Imola, having won in 2021 and 2022.

The Red Bull driver would be challenged by the McLaren duo just behind him as well as the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who start P4 and P5 respectively, in a heavily upgraded SF-24.