F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying predictions, betting tips & analysis

Best bets and predictions for The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying session at Imola on Friday.

Where to watch

Practice one Sky Sports F1, 12.30pm Friday
Qualifying Sky Sports F1, 4pm Friday

Best bet

Carlos Sainz fastest qualifier
1pt 5-1 Betfred

Qualifying preview

Charles Leclerc has enjoyed the best start to a season for a Ferrari driver since the Schumacher era, and that should see the Tifosi flocking into Imola for this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

This is the first of three sprint-race weekends this year - Sunday's grid will be decided by a Saturday sprint race, with the grid for that set by a traditional qualifying session on Friday afternoon.

The first European race of the season traditionally sees the first big upgrades to the cars as teams reap the benefit of being much closer to their factories than in the early flyaway rounds.

World Champion Max Verstappen will be hoping his Red Bull team have found a fix for the dodgy reliability of their quick 2022 car. The Dutchman won in Saudi Arabia but retired from second place in the other two races this year and sits 46 points adrift of the pace-setting Leclerc.

Perennial constructors champions Mercedes have the opposite problem. They are the only team whose drivers have both claimed points in all three races, but are in the unaccustomed position of having failed to challenge for a victory as they continue to struggle with aerodynamic issues.

Every driver's dream is to get their hands on a car capable of winning a championship, but squandering that opportunity is every pilot's worst nightmare.

There are 20 races to go this year but already Carlos Sainz is in danger of falling into the latter category.

The Spaniard has been outqualified by Ferrari teammate Leclerc in all three races so far and failed to finish in Australia while Leclerc collected maximum points.

Sainz finished ahead of Leclerc in last season's championship and looked fast early on in Australia before a red flag during qualifying set off a disastrous second half of the weekend.

There will be immense pressure on Leclerc this week as a championship-leading Ferrari driver competing in Italy, and having slightly fewer distractions could help Sainz bounce back from his Melbourne melodrama.

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