2021 F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Qualifying - As it happened

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Formula 1 returns as it heads to the legendary Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari for this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Having made a return to the F1 calendar for the first time since 2006 last year, Imola features again on the 2021 edition.

The events of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix remain long in many fans' memory, with it being the weekend three-time F1 champion Ayrton Senna lost his life on race day. Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger also died during qualifying at Imola '94.

Looking ahead to this weekend's race, the battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton looks to be finely poised.

Hamilton came out on top in the season-opening Bahrain, resisting intense late pressure from the Dutchman to win F1's season-opening race for the first time since 2015.

Red Bull appears to have the edge in terms of pure performance, although only a fool would rule out Mercedes from clawing its performance back.

Outside the top two, McLaren edged out Ferrari as 'best of the rest', while it was a missed opportunity for AlphaTauri as Pierre Gasly picked up damage in the early stages of the race.

Aston Martin and Alpine will be hoping for more at Imola after an underwhelming start to the season.

Alfa Romeo has made a good step forward over the winter, closing the gap to the midfield.

What to expect from this weekend?

Rain is forecast for Sunday's race, while Friday practice and qualifying on Saturday is expected to be dry.

Ahead of the weekend, Pirelli's head of F1, Mario Isola said: “After an exciting start in Bahrain, we have exactly the same tyre nomination for Imola: a circuit with very different characteristics, which we are excited to be visiting as title sponsors, helping to demonstrate the prestige of ‘Made in Italy’ to the world. Although the last race at Imola took place nearly six months ago, conditions could possibly be different now in April compared to November, and of course the tyre construction has changed.

“As was the case for the last race here, we expect teams to go with a one-stop strategy, also because of the time lost in the pits and relative difficulty in overtaking. The safety car made a big difference last year, so there are a lot of question marks heading into this weekend’s return to Europe.”