McLaren's Oscar Piastri grabbed pole position for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix just 0.034s ahead of Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell at the end of a lengthy qualifying session at Imola that was twice halted by red flags. 

At the start of qualifying, Williams’ Alex Albon set the early pace with a time of 1:16.164 and the Thai driver was one of the few to get a time on the board before the first red flag was shown. 

At the start of his opening flying lap, Yuki Tsunoda took too much kerb on the left side of the Villeneuve chicane and after bottoming out he spun off at high speed. His car skipped through the gravel trap, became momentarily airborne and then flipped above the barrier and hit the catch-fencing. Despite the huge amount of damage, the Red Bull Racing driver was unhurt and able to climb out of the car. 

After a 14-minute halt to recover the Japanese driver’s cars and repair the barriers, the session resumed, and Verstappen quickly took top spot with a lap of 1:15.175. Piastri slotted into P2, three tenths of a second behind the champion. 

In the final runs, Verstappen elected to stay in the garage as his rivals headed out, but in the end, few were able to complete their laps, as with the red flags were soon thrown for a second time. The returning Franco Colapinto put a wheel into the dirt on the exit of Tamburello and he too spun off into barriers. The Argentinian was able to climb out of his wrecked car, but the crash meant that several drivers were denied the chance to climb out of the drop zone. Liam Lawson exited in P16 followed by Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg, the Haas pair of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman and the unfortunate Tsunoda. 

After a 26-minute delay, Piastri who set the pace in the opening runs of Q2. The Australian crossed the line in 1:15.241, two hundredths of a second clear of McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, with Verstappen in third place, 0.159s off top spot and 0.151 ahead of the fourth-placed Mercedes George Russell. 

Verstappen and both McLaren drivers opted to head out for the final runs on used tyres. That left the way open for Williams’ Carlos Sainz to claim top spot at the end of the session with a lap of 1:15.198. Piastri took P2 ahead of Norris and Russell and Verstappen went through in fifth place.

Behind the Dutchman, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, who each had a set of Medium tyres in reserve, used the yellow-banded C5 to claim sixth and seventh respectively. Their climb up the order, as well as good final flyers from Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Williams’ Albon behind them, meant that both Ferrari cars were sensationally dumped out of qualifying, with Charles Leclerc out in P11 and Lewis Hamilton in P12. Also ruled out at the end were local favourite Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes in P13, followed by Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Colapinto. 

At the start of Q3 it was Verstappen who took provisional pole. Norris was the first of the main contenders across the line and the Briton stopped the clock at 1:14.962. Piastri was next and with a purple middle sector he demoted his team-mate by 1500ths of a second. Verstappen then posted the fastest first sector to beat both with a lap of 1:14.772 setting an intriguing flurry of final flyers.

Piastri was first out for the final runs and the Australian set a tough marker with a lap of 1:14.670. Verstappen was again quick in the first sector, but the champion wasn’t able to duplicate the pace in the middle sector and in the end Piastri claimed pole by 0.034s. 

Behind the top two, Russell jumped to P3 in the final moments, while Norris was forced to settle for the rear of row two. Alonso, astonishingly, claimed fifth on a set of used Medium tyres, while the Williams pair of Sainz and Albon qualified in sixth and seventh ahead of Stroll, also on Mediums, Hadjar and Gasly. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1'14.670 - -
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'14.704 0.034 0.046
3 George Russell Mercedes 1'14.807 0.137 0.183
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1'14.962 0.292 0.391
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'15.431 0.761 1.019
6 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1'15.432 0.762 1.020
7 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1'15.473 0.803 1.075
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'15.581 0.911 1.220
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1'15.746 1.076 1.441
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1'15.787 1.117 1.496
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'15.604 0.934 1.251
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1'15.765 1.095 1.466
13 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1'15.772 1.102 1.476
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1'16.260 1.590 2.129
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault - - -
16 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1'16.379 1.709 2.289
17 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1'16.518 1.848 2.475
18 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1'16.613 1.943 2.602
19 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1'16.918 2.248 3.011
20 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT - - -