© Getty ImagesMax makes the front row for Sunday’s race Max Verstappen narrowly missed out on a fourth pole of 2025 at the end of a disrupted Imola qualifying session.
Duringahard-foughtqualifyingsession,itwasOscarPiastriwhopippedtheChampiontotopspotbyjustthreehundredthsofasecond.ItwasapainfuldayforYuki,however,withtheJapanesedriversufferingahugecrashatthestartofQ1thatruledhimoutoftherestofqualifyingandbroughtaboutoneoftwolengthyredflagperiods.Thankfully,hewasunhurt.
Both drivers looked in good shape through the first half of the session, with Max leading the way on medium tyres thanks to a strong lap of 1:15.078 and with Yuki in P10, on the rise on the same compound.
However, when the time came to switch to softs, few drivers could find a comfort zone with the C6 Pirelli, and first man out, George Russell, showed the fans how tough it could be to get on top of the compound by sliding wide at the Variante Alte.
Despite the tougher tyre, Max’s second run placed him in P3, just under two tenths behind Lando in P1 and Oscar in P2. Yuki, however, was hampered by traffic in the Rivazzas and this would only allow him to finish the session in 17th place, 1.2s off the pace. With Imola being a demanding circuit, both drivers and the Team were confident in the potential of the car going into the mid-afternoon qualifying session. And Max was eyeing up another pole position ahead of the McLarens.
Max makes the front row for Sunday’s race © Getty Images
At the start of qualifying, Williams’ Alex Albon set the early pace with a time of 1:16.164, and as the Thai driver crossed the line, Max and Yuki started their first flying laps of the session, with the Dutchman ahead of his teammate on track.
Max posted purple times in the first two sectors and looked on course for a solid opening lap, but he was suddenly forced to slow when the red flags came out.
At the start of his flying lap, Yuki bottomed out on the kerb on the left side of the Villeneuve chicane, and he spun off at high speed. His car skipped through the gravel trap and just before he hit the barriers, he momentarily became airborne. That meant that he hit the top edge of the barrier, and his car flipped up and over, demolishing a light panel, hitting the catch fencing and coming to rest right-side up in the gravel. Despite the huge amount of damage, Yuki was thankfully unhurt and able to climb out of the car.
After a 14-minute halt to recover Yuki’s car and repair the barriers, the session resumed, and after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had taken top spot with a lap of 1:15.695, Max powered to the top of the order with a first full flyer of 1:15.175. Oscar slotted into P2, three tenths of a second behind the Champion.
In the final runs, Max elected to stay in the garage as his rivals headed out for final flyers. Few were able to complete their laps, however, as, with just a few moments remaining, the red flags were waved for a second time. Franco Colapinto put a wheel into the dirt on the exit of Tamburello, and he too spun off into barriers at high speed. 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 Ollie Bearman and Yuki.
"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 in the race." – Yuki Tsunoda
After a 26-minute delay, Q2 got underway, and it was Oscar who set the pace in the opening runs. The Australian crossed the line in 1:15.241 to put two hundredths of a second between him and teammate Lando, with Max in third place, 0.159s off top spot and 0.151 ahead of the fourth-placed George.
Satisfied with their opening flyers and holding on to two fresh sets of softs for Q3, Max and both McLarens opted to head out for the final runs on used tyres. That left the way open for Williams’ Carlos Sainz to roar through to claim top spot at the end of the session with a second flyer of 1:15.198. Oscar took P2 ahead of Lando and George, and Max eased through in fifth place.
Behind him were Lance Stroll and Fernando, and their climb up the order, as well as good final flyers from Pierre Gasly, Isack Hadjar and Alex behind them, meant that both Ferrari cars were sensationally dumped out of qualifying, with Leclerc out in P11 and Hamilton in P12. Also ruled out at the end were local favourite Kimi Antonelli in P13, followed by Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Franco Colapinto.
Christian Horner overseeing the garage at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix© Getty Images
Lando was the first of the main contenders across the line and the Briton stopped the clock at 1:14.962 thanks to a purple final sector. Oscar was quickest in the middle sector, and he edged 1500ths marginally clear of his teammate. Max, though, was far ahead of both in the first sector, and he carried the advantage to the end of the lap, posting a lap of 1:14.772 to take provisional pole, five hundredths of a second ahead of the lead McLaren.
Oscar was first out for the final runs and the Australian set a tough marker with a lap of 1:14.670. Max again set a blistering pace in the first sector, but the Champion wasn’t able to duplicate the pace in the middle sector and in the end the Champion missed out on pole by just 0.034s.
Behind the top two, George jumped to P3 in the final moments, while Lando was forced to settle for the rear of row two. Fernando, astonishingly, claimed fifth on a set of used medium tyres, while the Williams pair of Carlos and Alex qualified in sixth and seventh ahead of Lance, also on mediums, Isack and Pierre.
"First of all, the most important thing is that Yuki is okay, so that is good, especially after a crash like that happens. 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. We will aim to extract the most that we can out of the car and hopefully come away with a good result." – Max Verstappen
