Valtteri Bottas takes Emilia Romagna F1 GP pole from Lewis Hamilton

The beaming grin said it all, Valtteri Bottas unable to contain his delight at claiming pole for Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. This glorious, old-school track has delighted the drivers and beating his dominant teammate, Lewis Hamilton, will have doubtless thrilled the Finn.

His confidence is high, as is that of F1 in continuing to go racing as talk in the paddock centred on the consequences of a full national lockdown in England next week. This race will not be affected, but the teams are understood to be expecting to have to adapt when restrictions are applied, with four more meetings scheduled this season.

Valtteri Bottas (left) is congratulated by his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton after taking pole for the Emilia Romagna F1 GP at Imola. Photograph: Luca Bruno/EPA

Bottas claimed pole with an immense lap here, back on the calendar for the first time since 2006, denying Hamilton by a tenth of a second, with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen half a second down in third. However, with the British government to initiate a second lockdown in England on Thursday, there was concern as to how elite sport would be affected. Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, Williams, Racing Point, Haas and Renault are based in England.

F1 and the FIA did not issue any official statement but it is understood F1 believes that given teams and personnel were allowed to travel to races during the first period of restrictions, exemption from travel restrictions will also remain. This will be the season’s 13th race of the planned 17. The next round is in two weeks in Turkey, set to be followed by a triple-header, beginning on 19 November with two races in Bahrain and then concluding in Abu Dhabi.

The teams declined to comment since no government guidance had been issued in the immediate aftermath of qualifying, but they are confident they can carry on given the success of F1’s Covid protocols. The sport has conducted 60,000 tests, with 54 positive results over four months.

The McLaren principal, Andreas Seidl, reflected their confidence. “The situation is dynamic, but there is no change. We still plan to go ahead with all the races,” he said. “We are quite flexible in terms of adapting to new circumstances. All the British teams are in one boat so it would be a common issue for all these teams but I am sure we can overcome it up the road as we have already seen this year.”

On the track, Hamilton appeared to have saved his best for when it really mattered. Bottas had led through Q1 and Q2, but on his first lap in Q3 Hamilton had the edge, quickest with a time of 1min 13.781sec, three-hundredths up on his teammate. It was not enough as Bottas came back with a superb lap. On the second hot runs he found even more time with a flawless execution, putting almost a tenth on Hamilton, who admitted he had not been happy with his second attempt.

Both drivers expressed their admiration for the high-speed challenge of the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. “I really enjoyed this track,” Bottas said. “When you push flat out, it’s beautiful. I knew I had to push in the last lap and it’s a great feeling when you get those.”

Hamilton concurred. “It is a really intense lap,” he said. “Medium-high speed, the grip is very, very high, the faster you are going the harder it is to be inch-perfect. Valtteri did a great job.”

Hamilton was less certain of the prospects of a memorable grand prix. “I’m pretty certain you’ll see a boring race,” he said. “After Turn 1 it is going to be a train as there is nowhere else to pass. I would be really surprised if it’s a great race to watch. I hope I’m wrong.”

F1 had to come up to speed quickly at Imola, it is trialling holding this meeting over two days rather than the usual three, with a view to adopting the format in the future. There was no practice on Friday, instead one session of an hour and a half on Saturday yesterday morning.

Hamilton still holds the whip hand in the world championship race. He leads Bottas by 77 points, with five races remaining, and although he cannot claim the title here he could at the next round in Turkey. Mercedes, however, are in every position to make history of their own. They lead Red Bull by 209 points and a fourth-placed or better finish from either driver would be sufficient to seal their seventh consecutive title.

Pierre Gasly was an impressive fourth for AlphaTauri and Daniel Ricciardo fifth for Renault. Alexander Albon was in sixth for Red Bull, Charles Leclerc in seventh for Ferrari. Daniil Kvyat was in eighth for AlphaTauri and the McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz in ninth and tenth. Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll went out in 11th and 15th. Renault’s Esteban Ocon was in 12th, with the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel 14th. George Russell took 13th for Williams. Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were in 16th and 17th for Haas. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi were in 18th and 20th, with the Williams of Nicholas Latifi in 19th.