Hamilton looked like a shell of his former self as he spent most of the Emilia Romagna GP stuck behind Pierre Gasly's AlphaTauri.
The seven-time World Champion was unable to progress past Q2 and was placed 13th on the grid for the season's first sprint, in which he finished P14.
The grid for Sunday's race is determined by the finishing order of the sprint, which means Verstappen will start with Leclerc on the front row.
After his qualifying woes on Friday – which marked the first time neither Mercedes made Q3 since 2012 – Hamilton was left dejected, and the sprint did not help.
Despite being second in the constructors' championship, they are 39 points behind Ferrari in the standings.
Ten years ago, on this very day, the Mercedes-AMG-Petronas F1 team recorded its first race win in 57 years and the rest, as we all know, is history.
The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, or simply Imola, has been part of racing history since 1953.
Mercedes has found itself chasing not only its rivals but also the intricacies and subtleties of its new generation of cars.
In what concluded in a dominating victory for Charles Leclerc, there were significant other stories that unfurled throughout.
On Saturday, Alonso had a reliability issue and crashed out of Q3, claiming afterwards that he had a chance at pole due to his speed.