Bottas takes pole position as Formula One returns to Imola

Valtteri Bottas edged out Lewis Hamilton to claim pole position at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as Formula One returned to Imola.

An all-Mercedes front row will be led by Bottas, who claimed his second pole in three races after his time of 1:13.609 was 0.097 seconds faster than that of championship leader Hamilton.

Max Verstappen took third after a dramatic session for Red Bull, with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly impressing to join his former-team mate on the second row.

Daniel Ricciardo finished ahead of Alex Albon to take fifth, while Charles Leclerc was seventh as Sebastian Vettel struggled to 14th in the second Ferrari. 

BREAKING: @ValtteriBottas takes pole at Imola!

He edges out Lewis Hamilton (P2) to claim the 15th pole of his 

Max Verstappen takes P3 for Red Bull #ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/DHeQkeF8HJ

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 31, 2020

Bottas also topped Q1 and Q2 on Saturday but trailed Hamilton by a tiny margin after the first runs of the pole position shoot-out.

Hamilton improved with his second attempt, only to see Bottas go even quicker after him as the Finn ensured he will start at the front for the first grand prix to be held at Imola since 2006.

Verstappen ended up 0.567s adrift of Bottas, relieved to emerge in third after an electrical issue almost ended his chances of progressing from Q2 before he had set a time.

The Red Bull mechanics raced to fix his car as the clock ticked down and Verstappen then delivered under pressure - even going through on the slower medium tyres to ensure he will be on his preferred strategy to start the race.

Under-pressure Albon overcame a spin to progress in Q2 but then had his first lap time deleted in Q3, ultimately having to settle for a disappointing sixth.