@OscarPiastri pips @Max33Verstappen to #ImolaGP pole by 0.034s. #F1

Piastri Imola GP Pole – Championship leader Oscar Piastri pipped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by a slim 0.034 seconds to clinch pole position in an intense qualifying at the Imola GP as Ferrari struck disaster with both Charles Leclerc and Sir Lewis Hamilton eliminated in Q2 at the Maranello-marque’s home Grand Prix.

This was Piastri’s third-career pole position.

In Q3, the initial flyers saw Norris post a 1:14.962 which was beaten by team-mate Piastri’s 1:14.821 with his best purple sector two effort.

Then Verstappen blasted his way to provisional pole setting a 1:14.772 flying lap pipping Piastri by 0.049 seconds. Mercedes’ Russell slotted into fourth and 0.267 seconds off the Dutchman’s benchmark.

In the final flying laps, Piastri improved to take provisional pole with a purple middle sector and a 1:14.620, Norris was next but could not improve on his hot-lap and remained in P3.

Verstappen followed but could not improve despite setting the best sector one time meaning Piastri secured the pole by a slim 0.034 seconds.

Russell made a late improvement to snatch third place off the grid from Norris.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took an impressive fifth and ahead of Williams’ duo Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon who were sixth and seventh respectively.

The other Aston Martin AMR25 entry of Lance Stroll was eighth as RB’s Isack Hadjar and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten.

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Sainz, a lengthy delay following the crash of Franco Colapinto as mentioned below and also Haas’s Oliver Bearman have his lap-time under review for whether he completed his lap-time in time before the red flag from the Alpine drivers’ crash.

The race officials deemed that Bearman’s effort was not completed in time meaning Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto was safe to participate in Q2.

Late improvements from both Aston Martin’s of Alonso and Stroll sent both Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Sir Lewis Hamilton out in Q2 meaning both SF-25 entries will start their first home Grand Prix of the season in 11^th and 12^th respectively.

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli also starts his initial home Grand Prix down in 13^th as Sauber’s Bortoleto and the aforementioned Colapinto were 14^th and 15^th.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Verstappen, with 12 minutes and 13 seconds on the clock, Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda suffered a heavy shunt into the wall at turn six.

Replays showed the Japanese driver suffer a spin out of Variante Villeneuve and travelled across the gravel at high speed and his RB21 racer flipped over the top of the barrier and damaged the suspension and both his front and rear wings.

Tsunoda thankfully was unscathed and walked away ok from the incident.

The session ended with another red flag after Alpine’s Franco Colapinto suffered a heavy crash.

Replays showed the Argentine lost it at the exit of turn four and spun across the track into the barriers.

RB’s Liam Lawson ended up in 16^th and ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg who took 17^th and Haas pairing of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman who brought up 18^th and 19^th.

The aforementioned Tsunoda brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 AWS Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell’Emilia Romagna 2025 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1260/emilia-romagna/qualifying

2025 Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2025 Emilia Romagna GP Pole Position – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team, Mercedes, MCL39 – 1:14.670:

“It was a great session but a tough session with all the delays and red flags. And with the tyres as well, today the C6 was a real mystery. The lap was good, I had about four cars in the last corner which didn’t help. I wasn’t thrilled to be the first car on track, you lose the slipstream, but you don’t have any dirty air. That’s what we chose to do, we have enough pace to be able to do that and the team did great.”

2^nd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB21 – 1:14.704:

“I think everything was going very well, but the softest compound – it is hard to keep them alive and they fell away from me. But the race is tomorrow, that is what we have to focus on as I don’t think today was a very good day for us. I hope we pick up a bit of pace and look after our tyres a bit better [tomorrow].”

3^rd Place – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W16 – 1:14.807:

“We were going for it, we thought maybe the medium tyre would be a fast one and it was a good choice. A bit compromised for tomorrow, but it was worth it. It was very challenging, opening the lap we nearly missed the flag! But really happy with P3, we could not have achieved much more today.”