Oscar Piastri will start from pole position for the 2025 Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after a nail-biting qualifying performance at Imola, but for Liam Lawson, a promising afternoon ended in heartbreak as red flags cut short his final flying lap in Q1, ending his session prematurely.
Q1 – Crashes, Chaos, and a Kiwi Cut Short
Qualifying at the historic Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari started with high drama and never let up. Alex Albon was among the first to set a benchmark, clocking a 1:16.258 as the early runners found grip on the demanding Italian circuit.
But the session was barely underway when Yuki Tsunoda suffered a terrifying crash. The RB driver lost control through Turn 6, his car sliding off-track and smashing into the barriers before rolling along the catch fence.
The car briefly flipped upside down before coming to rest upright. Fortunately, Tsunoda was able to climb out unaided, but the crash ended his qualifying session on the spot and any chance of progressing. He will start from 20th on the grid.
“Thankfully, I am physically okay and feel fine. We made quite a lot of changes to the car from FP3 to Qualifying. I just overdid it and pushed too hard on the lap, took too much curb and lost the car. It is frustrating, and, unfortunately, it was a stupid mistake that caused a lot of work and effort for the mechanics.
“The car felt quick before, and I know what went wrong, and it’s just an unfortunate situation to be in. Big apologies to the team, and we will look at the damage and hopefully the car will be good for tomorrow’s race,” said Tsunoda
Once the session resumed with 12 minutes on the clock, all eyes were on Liam Lawson. The Kiwi delivered a tidy 1:16.379 on his first run, briefly placing him inside the top 10. However, the track was rapidly improving, and as the rest of the field completed their flying laps, Lawson tumbled down the order, finding himself on the bubble in 15th.
With a minute remaining, Oscar Piastri surged to second fastest behind Max Verstappen’s 1:15.175, while Lando Norris slotted into fifth. But just as Lawson was preparing to launch his final flying lap, disaster struck again.
This time, Franco Colapinto hit the barriers hard at Turn 3, bringing out a second red flag and ending the session prematurely. Lawson was stranded in 16th, missing Q2 by a mere 0.123s.
“Not getting to do the last lap was a shame. We unfortunately missed out due to the red flag and it ruined our Qualifying. We did one run with a compromised out lap and we never got the opportunity to go again, it’s just one of those sessions.” said Lawson
“It’s one of the toughest Qualis, when you put the car on the limit, there is no run off, and if you go over it, there is a price to pay, which we saw today with Yuki, I’m glad he’s okay.
“This track is so exciting; it raises the heart rate, and it’s exciting for us to drive, but it’s a compromised race now as it’s a hard track to overtake. A straightforward strategy will be hard; we will try and make something happen, but it’s going to be a tough race.”
While Lawson will technically start 15th — promoted one place due to Colapinto receiving a post-session grid penalty — the challenge ahead remains steep.
Imola is notoriously difficult for overtaking, and the Kiwi faces an uphill battle in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Q1 Top 5: Verstappen, Piastri, Alonso, Stroll, Russell
Eliminated: Lawson, Hülkenberg, Ocon, Bearman, Tsunoda (no time)
Q2 – Ferrari Falter as Sainz Shines
Though Colapinto scraped into Q2, his earlier crash meant he couldn’t participate, as his team scrambled to repair the damage for Sunday.
On track, Verstappen initially looked the man to beat with a 1:15.400, until Norris went faster with a 1:15.261.
Piastri led Norris, Verstappen, Russell, and Leclerc as the final runs approached, but the standings would get a late shake-up.
Carlos Sainz delivered a stunner, clocking a 1:15.186 to top the session. Behind him, Alonso leapt up from the drop zone into sixth, knocking both Ferraris — Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton — out of qualifying in a shock result for the Tifosi at their home race.
“A tough one today. The car felt good overall, but we just didn’t have the grip we needed on the final lap in Q2, and that cost us. This circuit makes overtaking a real challenge, so we know tomorrow won’t be easy, but we’ll dig deep as a team and explore every option tonight,” said Hamilton
“On a technical track like this one, everything has to be perfect, and today it showed. It’s disappointing for us and our Tifosi, who came here to support us with so much passion. This gives us the motivation to come back tomorrow and give it everything,” said Leclerc, reflecting on a tough qualifying.
Top 5: Sainz, Piastri, Norris, Russell, Verstappen
Eliminated: Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Bortoleto, Colapinto
Q3 – Piastri Delivers Pole in McLaren Milestone
With the final shootout underway, Lance Stroll set the initial pace at 1:15.767 before Isack Hadjar momentarily claimed top spot at 1:15.746. But McLaren’s Lando Norris dipped under the 1:15 mark first, before being immediately usurped by teammate Oscar Piastri with a 1:14.821.
Verstappen, however, wasn’t done yet. The reigning World Champion delivered a clinical 1:14.772 to grab provisional pole, just 0.049s clear of Piastri.
But in the final runs, the Australian came back swinging. Green in sector one, purple in sector two, and a perfectly tidy final sector saw Piastri clock a sensational 1:14.670 — the fastest lap of the day.
Verstappen responded with a purple first sector but couldn’t match Piastri’s middle segment, ultimately falling short by 0.034s.
Today, to get P2 it was overall a good result and I think we improved a lot from yesterday. The car was a lot nicer to drive and we did some good work overnight and made positive developments. I am pretty happy with the balance of the car and we put it in a much better window and saw it really come alive,” said Verstappen
“The tyres overheated a bit more than we would like; it was the first time with this tyre, and they were a bit too soft for us, which impacted our performance a bit. As we went faster, they overheated more, so we couldn’t optimise the performance of the car as much as we would have liked.
Russell split the McLarens to claim third, demoting Norris to the second row in fourth, leaving Piastri to lock in pole position for the 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
“It’s always a great feeling to be on Pole. It was a really good session, tougher with the Red Flags, but I am very happy with the job we’ve done. The tyres have been trickier today, but the team did a fantastic job to get the car into a nice window. I’m excited for tomorrow,” said Piastri
Q3 Top 10:
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:14.670
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – +0.034
- George Russell (Mercedes) – +0.137
- Lando Norris (McLaren) – +0.292
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – +0.761
- Carlos Sainz (Williams) – +0.762
- Alex Albon (Williams) – +0.803
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – +0.911
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) – +1.076
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – +1.117
With Piastri on pole, Verstappen alongside, and a fired-up Russell and Norris just behind, Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix promises fireworks. But for Liam Lawson, the focus turns to recovery. While his Saturday was marred by misfortune, he remains determined to turn the tide, even on a circuit where overtaking is rare.
The Kiwi has shown flashes of speed all weekend. Now, he’ll need patience, precision, and perhaps a slice of luck to advance at Imola.
New Pirelli C6 Tyre, Tyre Management and Strategy Insights – Mario Isola, Motorsport Director
“This qualifying session needs to be analysed carefully in terms of tyre behaviour, as it produced many interesting insights. Everyone was keen to see how the C6 would perform in Qualifying, comparing it to the C5.
“From the initial data and listening to the immediate comments from the teams and drivers, we can say that the performance difference between the two softest compounds in the 2025 range is relatively small, which is what was predicted.
“What we saw today, on a track that didn’t evolve much compared to the first two hours of free practice, was that it wasn’t easy for the drivers to extract the full potential from the C6.
“Keep in mind that this compound had never been run on the 2025 cars, and during the end-of-season test in Abu Dhabi, only eight of today’s 20 drivers tried it.
“So it’s likely that they need to get to understand it better in order to get the most out of it. This meant that some drivers preferred to go with the C5, a compound they know well, given that it was already the qualifying tyre for the previous two races in Jeddah and Miami.
“They chose to sacrifice a bit of grip in exchange for the lap time advantage that comes from the predictability of a tyre with which they have more experience and more data.”
“As for strategy, the one-stop is still the most viable choice, especially on a track where overtaking is rather complicated, in part because there is only one DRS zone and also because this is the longest pit lane of the season in terms of time lost during a pit stop.
“Clearly, the combination of Medium and Hard, with a stop between laps 17 and 23, is the most likely. As an alternative, some drivers might prefer to go for a longer first stint, starting on the Hard, in the hope of an eventual Safety Car, in which case the switch to Medium would be between laps 37 and 43.
“A two-stop strategy is not out of the question in terms of total race time, but the factors just mentioned mean it is at a disadvantage. For anyone attempting this, the best combinations would be Medium-Hard-Hard.”
Header Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool
