IMOLA: Valtteri Bottas powered to pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Saturday with the Finn's team mate and Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton locking out the front row for dominant Mercedes.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified third, after a power unit scare in the second phase sent mechanics scrambling to fix his car, with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly a stunning fourth on the grid.
Mercedes need only a fourth place finish in Sunday's race to secure a record seventh successive constructors' world championship.
The pole, with a time of one minute 13.609 seconds, was a 13th in 13 races this season for the champions.
Sunday's race will be the first grand prix at Imola since 2006, with the track returning to flesh out a calendar ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the third in Italy this season.
"This track, when you push flat out, it's beautiful. I knew I had to improve in the last lap and I found those small gains that were needed," said Bottas, who was 0.097 quicker than Hamilton.
"It's a great feeling when you get those.
"It's going to be a good fight. It's one of the longest runs in the calendar into Turn One so no doubt Lewis and Max will be chasing me, but it's a good place to start and hopefully the pace is good."
Hamilton leads Bottas by 77 points, having won eight times so far this season, and is closing on a record-equalling seventh drivers' title although he will have to wait at least until Turkey in two weeks' time for a chance to clinch it.
"Valtteri did a great job. It was a pretty poor lap from myself. These things happen, you can't always get it perfect," said Hamilton, who had been quickest after the first flying laps in phase three.
Valtteri Bottas on pole at Imola with Lewis Hamilton alongside
https://arab.news/ypfyw
Valtteri Bottas on pole at Imola with Lewis Hamilton alongside
- Bottas pips Hamilton to pole at Imola as Mercedes lock out front row
- Champions can clinch seventh constructors' title in a row
Pablo Mari joins Al-Hilal from Serie A side Fiorentina
- Former Arsenal defender will bolster the SPL leaders with Kalidou Koulibaly still away at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal
RIYADH: Al-Hilal on Sunday offically announced that former Arsenal defender Pablo Mari has signed from Serie A side Fiorentina. The player immediately joined his new colleagues in a training session.
The move will bolster Al-Hilal’s defence, with Kalidou Koulibaly still away at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal, who face Egypt in the semi-finals on Wednesday night.
Mari has played 16 games with Fiorentina in all competitions this season.
“Al-Hilal have signed a contract with Spanish defender Pablo Mari to join Al-Hilal from Italian club Fiorentina on a six-month contract, with an option to extend for another year,” Al-Hilal announced in a statement.
The 32-year-old defender won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2020 and lifted the Copa Libertadores with Brazil’s Flamengo in 2019.
The Spanish centre-half started his career at Mallorca, where he was a product of the club’s youth academy. In 2013, he moved to Gimnastic in the third tier of Spanish football, where he spent three years before Manchester City signed him in August of 2016.
Mari was immediately loaned out to Girona on a one-year deal, and he would also have similar stints at NAC Breda in the Netherlands and Deportivo La Coruna in Spain in the following two campaigns.
The series of loan spells were ended when he joined Flamengo on a permanent deal in 2019, but after a season at the Brazilian club which led to continental success, Mari was loaned out to Arsenal in the January transfer window at the start of 2020.
After winning the FA Cup a few months after joining, the move to the North London club was made permanent. However, his spell at the Emirates led to further loans spells at Udinese and Monza, with the latter securing his services on a full-time basis in May of 2023.
Fiorentina signed Mari in January of 2025 before his latest move to Riyadh was announced.
