Emilia Romagna GP: Oscar Piastri on pole position from Max Verstappen after Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc nightmare at Imola

Oscar Piastri snatched pole position from Max Verstappen in a thrilling Qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix which saw both Ferraris eliminated before Q3 and two huge crashes.

Championship leader Piastri pipped Verstappen by just 0.034s in the last runs and will look to extend his 16-point advantage over McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, who will start fourth behind George Russell.

Norris was unable to improve on his last flying lap and faces a big challenge to return to winning ways when the lights go out in Imola on Sunday at 2pm, live on Sky Sports F1.

The home crowd was silenced when Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were knocked out in Q2 in 11th and 12th – giving Ferrari their worst Qualifying performance at Imola.

Yuki Tsunoda had a scary accident in Q1 when he flipped his Red Bull at high speed but was able to walk away, and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto also crashed on his first outing for the team.

Fernando Alonso secured his best grid position of 2025 in the upgraded Aston Martin in fifth, ahead of Williams pair Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, with Lance Stroll in eighth.

Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar continued to impress in ninth, with Pierre Gasly in 10th for Alpine.

Piastri proves he’s driver to beat

McLaren dominated practice with one-twos in all three sessions but, as has been the case all season, Verstappen was there to challenge when it mattered most.

Verstappen went quickest by half a tenth from Piastri after the first Q3 runs but the McLaren driver hit back with a superb last lap of a 1:14.670.

Although Verstappen improved, it was not enough as he fell 0.034s short of pole but continued the remarkable trend of the pole margin being less than one tenth this season at every race apart from Bahrain.

“We’ve been trying a few different things this weekend and we got it into a nice place for Qualifying,” said Piastri.

“The lap was good. I had about four cars in the last corner, which didn’t help, but it was enough. So, very happy with the job I’ve done and excited for tomorrow now.

“I wasn’t thrilled to be the first car on track but I had quite a big gap on the run before anyway, so it wasn’t actually that much different for me.

Norris had great pace until Q3 when he failed to make the same jump in performance as his rivals at the crunch time. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella revealed Norris was losing out in “a couple of corners”.

Mercedes gambled by using the medium tyres for Russell’s last run as the new C6 soft tyre, which is being used for the first time on a race weekend, was struggling to hold its performance.

It paid off and dealt another blow to Norris, who will have the Spanish pair of Alonso and Sainz to contend with on the long run down to the first chicane.

More Ferrari misery on home soil

Ferrari hoped upgrades to the rear of their car would put them closer to the front but both drivers were eliminated in Q2 for the first time this year.

While Hamilton apologised to the team, a frustrated Leclerc repeated “my god” several times on the radio.

“Ultimately, I feel super gutted, devastated that we weren’t able to get through,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“I really feel 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 struggled in his first home race with 13th for Mercedes, ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine’s Colapinto, who crashed at the first chicane.

Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore revealed on Friday that Colapinto needed to be “fast, not crash and score points” but said there was “no set limit” on the number of races he would drive in.

Oliver Bearman thought he reached Q2 after initially going 10th in Q1 but race control deemed the Haas driver had not completed his lap before the red flag was waved for Colapinto’s incident.

Tsunoda walks away from scary flip

The big moment from Qualifying came in Q1 when Tsunoda crashed at high-speed going into Turn 5, hitting the barrier hard and flipping his Red Bull over.

Tsunoda managed to walk away from what is one of the biggest accidents in recent F1 history and will start the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the back.

Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying Timesheet


Driver	Team	Time
4) Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+0.171
1) Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:26.204
5) George Russell	Mercedes	+0.181
2) Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.065
3) Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+0.067
6) Carlos Sainz	Williams	+0.365
7) Alex Albon	Williams	+0.478
8) Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+0.550
9) Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	+0.620
10) Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+0.739
Knocked out in Q2
11) Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:15.604
12) Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:15.765
13) Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:15.772
14) Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber	1:16.260
15) Franco Colapinto	Alpine	No time set
Knocked out in Q1
16) Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	1:16.379
17) Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	1:16.518
18) Esteban Ocon	Haas	1:16.613
19) Oliver Bearman	Haas	1:16.918
20) Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull	No time set

Sky Sports F1’s Emilia Romagna GP Schedule

Sunday May 18
7.25am: F3 Feature Race
8.55am: F2 Feature Race
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Emilia Romagna GP build-up
2pm: The EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Emilia Romagna GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

*Also live on Sky Sports Main Event

F1’s European season begins with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday with lights out at 2pm, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

Source link