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.

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.

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