Piastri beats Verstappen to Imola pole, Ferraris out in Q2

Formula 1 championship leader Oscar Piastri narrowly took pole position for the 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, beating Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to the top spot by less than half a tenth of a second.

Verstappen was fastest in Q1 and had provisional pole after the first runs in Q3, just under half a tenth clear of Piastri, with the second McLaren of Lando Norris third and George Russell’s Mercedes fourth.

Piastri hit traffic through the final two corners on his final flying lap, but still found a tenth of a second to sit on provisional pole.

He told McLaren “I would have lost my s*** if that traffic cost me pole,” but Verstappen couldn’t quite do enough to capitalise so had to settle for second, just 0.034s behind.

Norris suffered a twitch of oversteer through Tamburello on his first Q3 lap, then made a mess of the Acque Minerale double right-hander on his second and so ended up dropping to fourth as Russell found time by switching to the medium compound C5 tyre for his final run.

That strategy was pioneered by Aston Martin, with both drivers progressing to Q3 for this first time this season after switching to the C5 in Q2.

They continued that way in Q3 and Fernando Alonso scored the team’s best qualifying result of the season with the fifth-fastest time, narrowly beating both Williams.

Carlos Sainz was fastest of all in Q2 on a 1m15.198s, but went 0.233s slower in Q3 and ended up sixth, just 0.001s behind Alonso and 0.041s up on team-mate Alex Albon.

Ferrari endures double Q2 exit

Both Ferraris were eliminated in Q2, as a difficult home event for the team continued.

“My God, my God, my God, my God!” was Charles Leclerc’s reaction after Alonso used the medium tyre to dump Leclerc’s Ferrari out of the top 10 in the final seconds of the session.

Both Ferraris sat comfortably inside the top 10 after the initial runs, on a track that seemed to lose pace compared to Q1, but Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both failed to improve on their crucial second runs.

Late improvements for Sainz - who went fastest of all in Q2 - Albon, Gasly, Stroll (like Alonso using the C5 medium) and Alonso meant both Ferraris were eliminated, along with Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes and Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber.

Huge Q1 crashes for Tsunoda and Colapinto

Yuki Tsunoda failed to escape Q1 for the first time since being promoted to Red Bull Racing, crashing out spectacularly before registering a laptime, while Franco Colapinto’s Alpine audition got off to a bad start as his first qualifying session for the team ended in a big crash.

Tsunoda’s RB21 appeared to be bouncing quite heavily as it approached the left/right Villeneuve chicane on its first flying lap, before breaking traction over the first apex kerb.

The Red Bull struck the barrier rear-first before inverting, riding the top of the barrier then landing in the gravel on its wheels.

Tsunoda thankfully walked away from his wrecked Red Bull, before heading to the medical centre for checks.

Returnee Colapinto, making his F1 comeback with Alpine in place of Jack Doohan, lapped 14th quickest before having a big crash after running wide at the exit of the first chicane in the final seconds of Q1.

That shunt red-flagged the session and meant Liam Lawson was unable to respond to being dumped into the drop zone by Bortoleto’s Sauber, so Lawson joined Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman in being eliminated in Q1, along with Tsunoda.

Hulkenberg had already run wide at the final corner so would have dropped out anyway. Ditto Ocon, who wasn’t fast enough.

Bearman appeared to have made Q2 just before the red flags flew but his time was scrubbed and, although the FIA conducted a lengthy review before Q2, he ended up 19th and eliminated - apparently unhappy at what he considered to be an injustice.

Colapinto and Hulkenberg both face post-qualifying investigations - Colapinto for leaving the garage too early before the first resumption (which usually carries a one-place grid penalty) and Hulkenberg for being unsafely released by Sauber into the path of Antonelli’s Mercedes.

Provisional Emilia Romagna GP grid

1 Oscar Piastri
2 Max Verstappen
3 George Russell
4 Lando Norris
5 Fernando Alonso
6 Carlos Sainz
7 Alex Albon
8 Lance Stroll
9 Isack Hadjar
10 Pierre Gasly
11 Charles Leclerc
12 Lewis Hamilton
13 Kimi Antonelli
14 Gabriel Bortoleto
15 Franco Colapinto
16 Liam Lawson
17 Nico Hulkenberg
18 Esteban Ocon
19 Ollie Bearman
20 Yuki Tsunoda