IMOLA: Formula One leader Oscar Piastri put his McLaren on pole position for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Saturday with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen joining the Australian on the front row.

George Russell qualified third for Mercedes with McLaren’s Lando Norris fourth in a session that was twice red-flagged after Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto crashed in the first phase.

The pole, with a time of one minute 14.670 seconds, was the 24-year-old Australian’s third of the season as he chases a fifth win in seven races and fourth in a row to stretch his 16-point lead over Norris.

“It was a great session, very tough with the delays and red flags and the tricky tyres,” said Piastri. “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.”

Ferrari suffered a new low in front of their home fans, with Charles Leclerc qualifying 11th and Lewis Hamilton 12th in the seven-times world champion’s first race in Italy for the Maranello-based team.

Mercedes’ Italian rookie and local hero Kimi Antonelli also failed to make the top 10 and will line up only 13th.

Fernando Alonso will line up fifth for Aston Martin, an impressive turnaround for a team that has struggled this season, and Williams pair Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were sixth and seventh fastest.

Canadian Lance Stroll made it two Astons in the top 10 with eighth on the grid, followed by Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Tsunoda and Colapinto, the latter returning to the grid in place of dropped Australian Jack Doohan, were both taken to the medical centre for checks after crashes.

The Red Bull driver’s crash led to a 15-minute delay for track repairs and red flags were waved again when Colapinto went onto the grass approaching Tamburello and lost control, spinning and hitting the barrier head on.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2025