Emilia Romagna Grand Prix F1 qualifying betting tips, odds and predictions: Verstappen a big price to nick another pole

Where to watch the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Practice three & qualifying
11.30am & 3pm Saturday, Sky Sports F1

Race
2pm Sunday, Sky Sports F1

Best bet

Max Verstappen fastest qualifier
1pt each-way 6-1 bet365

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying odds

Odds correct at time of publication. Each-way 1/3 odds, 1,2.

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying predictions

If Max Verstappen's rivals thought that becoming a father would slow down the four-time world champion then they were soon put straight by the Dutchman in Miami last week.

After an eventful sprint section of the weekend, Verstappen edged a super-tight qualifying contest and put up a typically elbows-out defence in the race before the McLarens inevitably got past.

That was the third time in four grands prix that Verstappen has taken pole position, and the odds look too dismissive that he repeats the feat at Imola for this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

It was at this race last year that Verstappen's Red Bull first looked like its dominance may be ending, but the Dutch dynamo pipped Lando Norris and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for pole before holding off Norris's clearly faster McLaren for the race victory.

Back to this year, Norris was a whisker slower than his championship-leading teammate Oscar Piastri at the top of both Friday practices.

Verstappen's fastest time was just under half a second behind, but the Red Bulls tend to run their engines much lower on a Friday and the world champion in particular has a habit of making massive gains on a Saturday.

While the McLaren has undoubtedly been the class of the field this season, the car is nervous when lightly fueled, and is much stronger in race conditions.

Another nip-and-tuck qualifying can be expected today and in such circumstances Verstappen always seems to find just enough.

This race marks the start of a European triple-header with stops at Monaco and Spain over the next two weeks.

We can expect to see the first major upgrades to the cars during this part of the season, which could shake up the pecking order.

Aston Martin, who have made a seriously disappointing start to the campaign, collecting only 14 points from the first six races, have brought a heavily revised car to Imola.

McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes are among the teams with more minor changes this weekend.

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