Oscar Piastri Claims Pole Position in Dramatic Imola GP Qualifying

Oscar Piastri claimed pole position ahead of Max Verstappen in a dramatic qualifying session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The session saw both Ferrari drivers surprisingly knocked out before Q3, alongside two significant crashes.

Piastri, currently leading the championship, edged out Verstappen by a mere 0.034 seconds on the final runs. He aims to build on his 16-point lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who qualified fourth, just behind George Russell.

Norris couldn`t improve his time on his final lap, facing a challenge to bounce back to winning form in Sunday`s race.

The local fans were dismayed as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were eliminated in Q2, qualifying 11th and 12th respectively, marking Ferrari`s poorest qualifying result at Imola.

Yuki Tsunoda was involved in a frightening high-speed crash in Q1, which saw his Red Bull car flip, but he thankfully walked away unharmed. Alpine`s Franco Colapinto also crashed during his team debut.

Fernando Alonso achieved his best starting position of the season, qualifying fifth in his updated Aston Martin. He`ll start ahead of the Williams duo Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, while Lance Stroll took eighth.

Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls continued his strong performance by qualifying ninth, with Alpine`s Pierre Gasly rounding out the top ten.

Piastri Shows Title Contender Form

McLaren had shown strong pace throughout practice, topping all three sessions, but as often this season, Verstappen emerged as the key challenger when it mattered most in qualifying.

Verstappen held a narrow lead over Piastri after the initial Q3 runs, but the McLaren driver responded with an outstanding final lap of 1:14.670.

Although Verstappen improved his time, it wasn`t sufficient, finishing just 0.034 seconds shy of pole. This continues the notable pattern this season where the pole margin has been less than a tenth of a second in every race except Bahrain.

`We`ve been trying a few different things this weekend and we got it into a nice place for Qualifying,` Piastri commented. `The lap felt good. I had about four cars in the last corner, which wasn`t ideal, but it was still enough. So, I`m very happy with the job we did and excited for tomorrow. I wasn`t thrilled about being the first car out on track for the run, but I had a decent gap beforehand anyway, so it didn`t make a huge difference for me.`

Norris showed strong pace throughout practice and earlier qualifying sessions but couldn`t find the same performance gain in Q3 as his competitors. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella mentioned that Norris struggled in `a couple of corners`.

Mercedes took a strategic risk, opting for medium tyres on Russell`s final run. The new C6 soft compound, debuting this weekend, seemed to lose performance quickly.

The strategy paid off, placing Russell ahead of Norris and adding pressure on the Briton, who will face challenges from the Spanish drivers Alonso and Sainz on the approach to the first chicane.

Ferrari`s Difficult Home Qualifying

Ferrari had hoped their car upgrades, particularly to the rear, would improve performance, but both drivers were surprisingly eliminated in Q2, a first this season.

While Hamilton apologized to the team, a clearly frustrated Leclerc repeatedly exclaimed `my god` over the team radio.

`Ultimately, I feel super gutted, devastated that we weren`t able to get through,` Hamilton commented. `I really felt like we had made so many positive steps through the weekend. The car was generally feeling better, brakes were better today, the balance was really nice. In Q2, run one felt decent, then when we put the new tyres on, for some reason I just didn`t have any more grip and couldn`t go any faster. You see everyone else, they managed to switch the tyres on clearly. We definitely need to look into that.`

Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli also had a tough home debut, qualifying 13th for Mercedes, just ahead of Sauber`s Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine`s Colapinto, whose session ended with a crash at the first chicane.

Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore had stated on Friday that Colapinto needed to be `fast, not crash and score points,` adding there was `no set limit` on his race appearances.

Oliver Bearman initially believed he had progressed to Q2 after setting a time good enough for 10th in Q1. However, race control ruled that the Haas driver had not completed his lap before the red flag caused by Colapinto`s crash.

Tsunoda Unharmed After Dramatic Flip

A major incident occurred in Q1 when Tsunoda suffered a high-speed crash heading into Turn 5, hitting the barrier forcefully and causing his Red Bull to flip.

Remarkably, Tsunoda walked away from the incident, which was one of the most significant crashes seen in recent F1 history. He will start the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from the rear of the grid.

*Note: The time gaps listed for positions 5-10 are relative to the fastest Q3 time (Piastri`s pole lap).