The reigning world champion thus confirms his first place won the day before during qualifying, ahead of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), current leader of the championship, who will accompany him on the front row.
Verstappen, who was overtaken from the start of the race by Leclerc who started second, managed to regain his rank on the 20th lap out of 21.
Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), battling Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Briton Lando Norris (c, McLaren), on April 23, 2022 on the Imola circuit, during the qualifying sprint race for the Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix MIGUEL MEDINA AFP
The second row will go to their teammates, the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) and the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari), respectively 3rd and 4th on Saturday.
The McLarens of Briton Lando Norris and Australian Daniel Ricciardo will be on the third row, the Alfa Romeo of Finland's Valtteri Bottas, a former Mercedes driver, and the Haas of Dane Kevin Magnussen in the fourth row.
After the rainy day on Friday, it was on a dry track that the drivers competed in this first sprint race of the season, neutralized on the first lap after a collision between the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and the Chinese Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo).
If the first returned to the pits to repair his car, the second was forced to retire.
Gasly, will start from 17th place on Sunday, behind the other Frenchman, Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 16th.
Just over 100 km long, covered in about thirty minutes (i.e. 21 laps at Imola), the sprint race determines the starting grid for the GP and also offers a few bonus points in the championship: eight points for the first to one point for 8th.
In the driver standings, Verstappen, 6th before this sprint, goes back to 5th place, with 33 points, ahead of Lewis Hamilton (28), very far from the points on Saturday.
Leclerc (78 points) keeps his rank and is now ahead of his Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz Jr (38), George Russell (37) and Sergio Pérez (36).
© 2022 AFP