Oscar Piastri pips Max Verstappen to Imola pole as Ferrari humiliated

Oscar Piastri pipped Max Verstappen to Emilia Romagna Grand Prix pole position in a heavily-delayed and controversial session at Imola. 

Q1 alone took nearly an hour to finish after heavy crashes for Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto, with a stewards investigaton also taking place mid-session, before Piastri roared to McLaren's first Imola pole since Kimi Raikkonen in 2005. 

He shaded Verstappen by 0.034s, making up just over a tenth on the world champion, as  team-mate Lando Norris could only manage fourth, a poor final lap costing him position to George Russell in third. 

The two Ferraris suffered humiliation with a double Q2 exit as Charles Leclerc was 11th with Lewis Hamilton 12th.

Read on for the full report below!

Q3

Verstappen held a 0.049s advantage over Piastri after the first runs wirh Norris third and Russell in fourth. 

However, despite navigating traffic on the final lap, Piastri improved to a 1:14.670, some 0.102s faster than Verstappen. 

Despite his best efforts, Verstappen could only manage a 1:14.704, 0.034s slower to make the front-row but miss out on pole. 

Russell nicked third from Norris, who had a poor middle sector to land P3, with Norris ahead of Alonso in fifth. 

Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10. 

Ferrari suffer double Q2 humiliation

A lengthy delay to the start of Q2 was in place as the stewards decided if Ollie Bearman or Bortoleto would be in the session. 

Ultimately, Bearman was stood down by Haas, after Sauber sent the Brazilian to the end of the pit-lane, making a point as 14 cars took part in the session, following Colapinto's crash at the end of Q1. 

At the end of the session, both Ferraris suffered elimination at its home race in Q2, with Leclerc and Hamilton only P11 and P12. 

The two Ferraris were knocked out by the Aston Martin duo of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, with the upgraded car using the medium tyres to get through and humiliate the Scuderia at its home track. 

Kimi Antonelli was also eliminated in 13th for Mercedes in his home race, whilst Bortoleto was the 14th and final driver eliminated. Colapinto did not take part following his Q1 crash. 

Up front, Sainz topped the segment for Williams, from the McLaren pair of Sainz and Norris. 

Tsunoda and Colapinto suffer big crashes in Q1

Minutes into Q1, the session was red-flagged after Tsunoda barrel-rolled at the Villeneuve chicane, destroying the car as he hit the fencing. 

The Red Bull driver clipped the kerb on the left-hander and was spat backwards into the barrier, with the car then flipping multiple times before coming to rest right-side up. 

Tsunoda was taken to the medical centre and must officially report to the stewards for permission to race as he posted a DNQ. This will be granted.

Upon the resumption, Verstappen quickly made his way to the top of the times with a segment-leading 1:15.175 as Colapinto suffered a disastrous session.

He made a mistake in trundling to the end of the pit-lane whilst there was only an estimated restart time, which would earn him a stewards' summons. 

In the dying moments of Q1, he carried too much speed into Tamburello and was spat into the barrier head-first, but reported he was okay. 

As a result, Bearman's lap, which was good enough to see him through to Q2, was deleted, dropping him back to P19. 

But this proved controversial, with a lengthy delay to the start of Q2 as the timing of Bearman's lap was investigated. 

He appeared to have crossed the timing line before the red flags were flown, but following a lengthy review, Bortoleto was sent through. 

Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Bearman and Tsunoda were the eliminees, with Verstappen topping the segment from Piastri and Alonso.