Verstappen edges Piastri to take Imola pole - reaction

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There seems to be no stopping Max Verstappen on a Saturday in 2024. The three-time world champion will take his place at the head of the field for the 39th time in his Formula 1 career.

Time for us all to get out in the sunshine and soak up the last of the day's vitamin D.

Come back here refreshed at 13:00 BST tomorrow for build-up to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Live commentary will be available on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

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The team will be back tonight with a qualifying review, but you can listen to the Chequered Flag podcast Imola preview right now.

Jennie Gow, former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer and BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson discuss whether Lando Norris challenge Max Verstappen for race victory again, the future of Adrian Newey, Alex Albon’s new Williams contract and Kevin Magnussen’s mounting penalty points tally.

Listen in here.

Whatever the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix throws up, you can get your questions in to our F1 correspondent Andrew Benson to answer.

Any thoughts or feelings after qualifying, type them down using this link here.

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Max Verstappen needs to buy Nico Hulkenberg a pint after qualifying, as the Red Bull driver received an almighty tow from the Haas in the first sector on the way to securing his latest pole position.

"We've been helping each other out this quali," Hulkenberg joked to Sky Sports. "He helped me out a few times in Q2 and I returned the favour."

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri and Kevin Magnussen are heading to the stewards soon to discuss their impeding incident from Q1.

Lando Norris finished third behind his McLaren team-mate, he said: “P3 is not a bad job at all and within a tenth both of us to P1 so tiny tiny margins, but for us as a team we’ve had a very good day and weekend so far.

“Oscar has done a great job and so did Max, it’s exciting, it was close and I’m excited for tomorrow.”

On tomorrow’s race, he added: “To be ahead of the Ferrari is also a nice result for us, but it’s going to be close and it’s going to be a good race tomorrow. Hopefully it’s going to be an exciting one to watch, and hopefully an exciting one in the car.

“But it’s tough especially when the lap times are so tight, a lot of it is down to Turn One, Lap One, the strategy, the pit-stops, so it’s going to be a tough race.”

Oscar Piastri, who will start tomorrow's race in P2 said: "It was pretty good, a little bit of a scruffy last corner, but here it’s so, so difficult to do a perfect lap.

"I’ve been really comfortable with the car the moment we put it on track yesterday. We were so, so close to pole, but very happy. It’s been a while since I’ve been up here."

Piastri on McLaren's improved performance: "We’ve been on the pace all weekend, you can never count out Max and Red Bull. I think our confidence is high. It's not the easiest track to overtake on, but the confidence is high that we can do something good."

Max Verstappen has now matched Ayrton Senna's record of eight consecutive pole positions which Senna set across the 1988 and '89 seasons.

Verstappen said: “It’s a great start to the year but also very special 30 years since he passed away at this track.

"Of course, very pleased to get pole here and in a way it’s a nice memory to him, he was an incredible Formula 1 driver especially in qualifying laps as well, so a great day for me and a great day for the team, I’m very very happy.”

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who will start in pole tomorrow, said afterwards: “It was a really difficult [lap], the weekend so far and even this morning. I’m incredibly happy to be on pole here. I didn’t expect that, but we made some final changes before qualifying, it seemed to make it feel a bit better and I could push a bit harder.

“This track is unbelievable for a qualifying lap to be on the limit, being this close to the gravel, I touched the gravel in the last corner, I’m still pumping, the adrenaline is very very high.”

Max Verstappen sounded really excited and he put his absolute maximum into that one - and it worked perfectly to take pole. It wasn't as easy as the other poles this season but he's done it again. Well done to him.

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A special lap on a poignant weekend.

An eighth pole position in a row for Max Verstappen at Imola today draws the Dutchman level with three-time world champion Ayrton Senna for the record of most consecutive poles in Formula 1.

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11. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

12. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

13. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

14. Alex Albon (Williams)

15. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

16. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)

17. Logan Sargeant (Williams)

18. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)

19. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

20. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

1, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 1:14.746

2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

3. Lando Norris (McLaren)

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

6. George Russell (Mercedes)

7. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)

8. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

9. Daniel Ricciardo (RB)

10. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)

"Cool. Well done everyone."

They [Red Bull] weren't expecting to be on pole position, Ferrari, I don't know what has gone on there but they were looking so dominant in the first few practice sessions.

"Yes, let's go! That's a really good pole position. What a difficult start, but we turned it around. Thank you everyone."

Max Verstappen will share the front row with Oscar Piastri, as it was the Australian who got his McLaren closest to the reigning world champion. Lando Norris finishes qualifying in third.

What happened to the Ferraris? Charles Leclerc will line up fourth and Carlos Sainz will take his place in fifth.

He [Verstappen] is so supreme when it counts, he is the fastest in the first and middle sectors so far.

Max Verstappen is on provisional pole with a new time of 1:14.746. Lando Norris tries his best but his last flying run is 0.074 seconds off the three-time world champion.