Bottas denies Mercedes team mate Hamilton pole at Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Valtteri Bottas denied Lewis Hamilton pole position for Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after beating his Mercedes team-mate by just 0.097 seconds.

On Formula One's return to Imola, the track which claimed Ayrton Senna's life 26 years ago, Bottas pulled out the stops to see off Hamilton with Red Bull's Max Verstappen third.

Hamilton had appeared on course to take the 98th pole of his career after improving with his final run, but Bottas went even quicker in a nail-biting session to take the spoils.

Hamilton heads into Sunday's round 77 points clear of Bottas and another triumph here will pave the way for the Englishman to equal Michael Schumacher's record of seven titles at the ensuing race in Turkey on November 15.

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