EMILIA ROMAGNA GP – Oscar Piastri beats Max Verstappen by three hundredths, in a crash-filled qualifying
Oscar Piastri has beaten Max Verstappen by three hundredths to take McLaren’s first pole at Imola in twenty years in qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The McLaren driver set a 14.570 to beat the Dutchman in a chaotic and crashed-filled qualifying, to pip the Red Bull as he grows further into a championship contender.
Piastri set his fastest time of the final run despite running into traffic on his final attempt through the Rivazza’s (Turns Seventeen and Eighteen), meaning he was unable to improve, as was Verstappen and his teammate Lando Norris who was knocked back to fourth after he also failed to improve. That opened the door for George Russell to steal third as he put his Mercedes over a tenth and a half faster than the Bristolian.
But it was a close fight between the two, Verstappen had gone fastest in sector one on the final attempt and then lost time to claw back the full tenth in the second and third sector to stop Piastri taking his third Grand Prix pole of the season.
Norris looked to have the 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”.
Piastri, who took his third pole position this season: “It was a great session but a very tough session with all the delays, red flags and the tyres. The tyre has been very tricky today, I think after yesterday everyone thought the C6 was not too bad and today it was a real mystery. The team did a great job and got the car in a nice window, we’ve been trying a few different things this weekend and we got into a nice place for qualifying.
Verstappen, who will start on the front row, “I think everything was going really well, the softest compounds were difficult to keep alive around the lap. Sector one was good and then the tyres fell away from me, after that it was tiny margins. It was cool, but then you could see George [Russell] set his lap on a medium.”
Russell, who qualified third for Mercedes: “We were going for it, we thought maybe the medium tyre would be a fast one and it turned out to be a good choice. Of course, there is a small compromise now for tomorrow but it was worth it to be back in the top three.
Fernando Alonso had his best and Aston Martin’s best qualifying of the season going fifth, the 2005 race winner, then the San Marino Grand Prix, was just under half a second behind Norris as he went just a thousandth ahead of his fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz. Sainz was four hundredths faster than his Williams teammate Alex Albon.
But the narrow gravel-lined Imola circuit took no prisoners with qualifying seeing several crashes and Red Flags, Yuki Tsunoda crashing in the biggest incident of the session at Villeneuve. The Red Bull driver bottomed out and flipped the car over the kerb landing against the tyre barrier.
Tsunoda managed to walk away from what is one of the biggest accidents in recent F1 history and probably the biggest crash at Imola since 2021, as dramatic than Rubens Barrichello’s crash in Q1 on that fateful weekend in 1994. But testify to the safety improvements made since then the Japanese driver walked away unharmed.
Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin eighth having used the mediums to make it through to Q3 before going eighth, he was around a quarter of a tenth faster than Isack Hadjar with Pierre Gasly completing the top ten after going four hundredths behind the Racing Bull.
Aston Martin had brought a big upgrade package and it appears to have worked, but time will tell in the coming races whether they are able to mix it with those at the top of the midfield.
Ferrari would have hoped their home Grand Prix and circuit which bears their name would have been a turning point, thanks to their first big upgrade of the year instead found themselves out in Q2. No both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton missed out on Q3, Leclerc missing out on the final part of qualifying by under half a tenth while the seven-time champion was a tenth and a half further behind.
Despite his Q2 knock out Hamilton sounded positive, he told Sky Sport, “Ultimately, I feel super gutted, devastated that we weren’t able to get through. 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.”
It wasn’t only Ferrari facing disappointment at home, Kimi Antonelli was seven thousandths behind the man he replaced at Mercedes. The Bolognian starting his first home Grand Prix from thirteenth after going just under half a second faster than Gabriel Bortoleto.
Antonelli said “I think it was really tricky to make the tyres work. I didn’t feel good throughout the lap. It’s a shame because I was hoping for better, but we’ll see tomorrow.”
Franco Colapinto was another to find the wall after locking up and spinning over the kerb on the exit of Tamburello (Turn Three), in what was a minor mistake. While he progressed to Q2 the wrecked Alpine meant he was unable to take part.
He will likely get a grid penalty for being released into the pitlane early under the first red flag, with a similar incident in Bahrain costing Mercedes duo Russell and Antonelli a one-place grid drop.
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. The timing of the Argentine’s crash and the following red flag saw Ollie Bearman miss out on Q2, the Haas driver was briefly tenth but replays and data showed he hadn’t crossed the line before the session was stopped.
Liam Lawson missed out on Q2 after going over a tenth slower than Colapinto but was a tenth and a half ahead of Nico Hulkenberg. Esteban Ocon was three-tenths ahead of Bearman, with the time he was allowed.