Max Verstappen beats Charles Leclerc to pole position in incident-packed Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying

Max Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc to pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint race in an incident-packed qualifying session at Imola on Friday.

The Red Bull driver set a time of 1:27.999 to pip the Ferrari driver by just 0.087 seconds, with Sergio Perez third for Red Bull and Carlos Sainz fourth for Ferrari.

The session was interrupted twice by red flags, with the first stoppage caused by a crash for Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas at the Tamburello chicane. The second red flag was brought out when Fernando Alonso's Alpine stopped on track at the start of the final qualifying session.

Verstappen was able to improve his time on his final lap, but Leclerc was unable to match the Dutchman's pace and had to settle for second place.

The result means that Verstappen will start Saturday's sprint race from pole position, with Leclerc alongside him on the front row. Perez and Sainz will start from third and fourth respectively.