Are we headed to another dominant Saturday from McLaren, or will their rivals spring a surprise in Formula 1 qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix?
The McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris has led the way over all three practice sessions. Piastri topped the timing sheets in both FP1 and FP2 — with Norris right behind him in P2 — while it was Norris who was fastest earlier today in FP3, with Piastri behind him in second.
A major story to watch in today’s qualifying session is the soft C6 compound, which is being used for the first time this season at Imola. While drivers switched from the medium compound to the softs late in FP3, few improvements were found in lap times. The possible reason? The soft tires were overheating by the end of the lap, decreasing grip levels through the final few corners of the circuit.
That might change how teams approach their warmup laps during qualifying, which could increase the traffic we see during Q1.
It could be a chaotic qualifying session, and we will have it covered live for you here at SB Nation, from the start of Q1 through the session.
Here is the provisional grid, which we will fill in as qualifying unfolds at Imola:
Provisional Qualifying Results Emilia Romagna GP
| Row | Position | Driver | Team | Position | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row | Position | Driver | Team | Position | Driver | Team |
| Row 1 | 1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull |
| Row 2 | 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| Row 3 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Williams |
| Row 4 | 7 | Alex Albon | Williams | 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin |
| Row 5 | 9 | Isack Hadjar | VCARB | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine |
| Row 6 | 11 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 12 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari |
| Row 7 | 13 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 14 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber |
| Row 8 | 15 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 16 | Liam Lawson | VCARB |
| Row 9 | 17 | Nico Hülkenberg | Sauber | 18 | Esteban Ocon | Haas |
| Row 10 | 19 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 20 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull |
Note: Updates are all in Eastern time.
Q3 qualifying notes
11:39: “It was a great session, a tough session,” reports Piastri trackside to Davide Valsecchi. “Excited for tomorrow.”
“I think everything was going really well, it’s just the softest compound is really difficult to keep alive,” says Verstappen to Valsecchi. “Maybe they were a bit too soft for this track … I felt a bit happier on the medium.”
“We thought maybe the medium tire would be a fast one, and it turned out to be a good choice. Of course it’s more compromised for tomorrow, but it was worth it to be back in the top three,” says Russell to Valsecchi. “Always a surprise to be so close to the McLaren, because they’ve been so good.”
11:38: F1TV reports that Alonso qualified fifth on a scrubbed set of mediums.
11:35: Russell leaps ahead of Norris on the medium compound, but the day belongs to Oscar Piastri. His lap takes pole position, just 0.034 seconds ahead of Verstappen.
Here is your provisional top ten.
Piastri
Verstappen
Russell
Norris
Alonso
Sainz
Albon
Stroll
Hadjar
Gasly
11:34: Verstappen was purple through the first sector, but had a bit of a scruffy second sector.
Norris’ time was good for third.
11:33: Piastri’s final push lap has him ahead of Verstappen’s benchmark time through the first two sectors.
11:30: Verstappen is the first of the drivers to pull out of the garage for a final push lap. Just over three minutes remain in Q3 and pole position is on the line.
Again Aston Martin bolts on medium tires for both Alonso and Stroll, but they are not alone. George Russell rolls out of the Mercedes garage with a set of mediums bolted onto his W16.
11:27: Opening push laps are done and it is Verstappen on provisional pole, just ahead of Piastri.
Here is the current top ten, with each driver preparing for one more push lap:
Verstappen
Piastri
Norris
Russell
Hadjar
Stroll
Alonso
Sainz
Albon
Gasly
11:22: Q3 begins and all ten drivers roll out on a set of soft tires.
11:20: I cannot remember the last time we took stock of tires remaining on Saturday, this was the number of each compound the drivers had coming into the day today:
Los neumáticos para lo que queda de fin de semana. Será carrera a 1 parada.
Remaining tyres for the weekend . It will be a 1 stop race. pic.twitter.com/mwQ8hxQXYh
— Albert Fabrega (@AlbertFabrega) May 16, 2025
iven what we just saw from Aston Martin at the end of Q2, do we see more sets of mediums here in Q3?
Q2 qualifying notes
11:16: Here are the top ten from Q2:
Sainz
Piastri
Norris
Russell
Verstappen
Alonso
Stroll
Gasly
Hadjar
Albon
11:15: Aston Martin’s gamble works. Both Stroll and Alonso advance, with Stroll in P7 and Alonso in P6.
Who do they knock out? The Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Hamilton. Leclerc finishes in P11 and Hamilton in P12. Antonelli, Bortoleto, and Colapinto join the in the elimination zone.
11:14: Sainz posts and absolute banger of a lap to go P1 as the clock expires.
11:09: With under four minutes left in Q2 the cars roar out of their respective garages. Interestingly enough both Alonso and Stroll have a set of medium tires bolted on, as Aston Martin is placing a bet on the C5 mediums being quicker than the C6 softs.
11:08: Williams reports that both Albon and Sainz used scrubbed soft tires for their first laps in Q2. Albon currently sits P9 on the timing sheets, while Albon is down in P13.
11:06: With just under seven minutes remaining in Q2 the bottom five drivers are: Stroll, Gasly, Albon, Bortoleto, and Colapinto.
11:04: The first push laps are done and we have a McLaren one-two atop the timing sheets, with Piastri just 0.020 seconds ahead of Norris.
11:01: As a reminder we have 14 cars in Q2, as Colapinto did advance to Q2 but his crash at the end of Q1 ended his day.
10:59: Q2 is finally underway and it is indeed Bortoleto who takes to the track first, followed by Verstappen.
10:58: Haas reports that Bearman’s lap has not been reinstated, and he is out of qualifying.
10:56: Bortoleto rolls out of the garage and takes his place on pit lane, so he’s convinced he is through …
Now we wait to see if Haas sends Bearman out too.
10:53: Race officials report that Q2 will begin at 4:58 local time/10:58 Eastern time.
Alex Brundle on F1TV now shows replays that illustrate that Bearman may advance after all.
10:51: This extended delay is allowing some dark clouds to roll in …
10:49: Both Haas and F1 confirm that Bearman’s final lap is under further review:
10:46: Race officials have again delayed the start of Q2 as they check on the barrier after Colapinto’s crash.
Bearman has yet to climb out of the VF-25.
10:44: Q2 will begin at 4:46 local time/10:46 Eastern.
Q1 qualifying notes
10:43: F1 confirms that Bearman has been eliminated. Bortoleto advances to Q2.
10:42: Replays on F1TV seem to confirm that the red flag was out before Bearman completed his lap.
10:38: Jolyon Palmer on F1TV notes that lost in the chaos of the end of Q1 is the fact that Lance Stroll jumped to P4 on a set of medium tires.
Yes, Aston Martin brought an upgrade package to Imola, but the medium compound might be quicker than the C6 soft tires right now.
Also … there is some weather off in the distance. More chaos could be on the horizon, literally and figuratively.
10:35: The start of Q2 will be delayed.
That will give us some time to sort out the controversy that is unfolding at Imola. F1 race officials have deleted Bearman’s time, which drops him down to P19 and promotes Bortoleto into Q2 in P15.
Haas will likely argue that he completed his lap before Colapinto’s crash, but we will see how race stewards handle this situation.
10:34: Colapinto technically advances to Q2 in P15, but his qualifying session is over.
Bearman survives, as he posted a lap that was good enough to move into Q2 just before Colapinto hit the wall at Turn 4.
10:33: Another big crash, as Franco Colapinto has found the barrier at Turn 4. As things stand the five drivers eliminated are Bortoleto, Lawson, Hülkenberg, Ocon, and Tsunoda.
Colapinto reports that he is okay as he climbs out of his A525.
10:32: Bortoleto’s final push lap sees him jump into P15, so he has a chance to advance into Q2.
His teammate Hülkenberg, however, found the gravel late in his lap and will be out in Q1.
10:30: With two minutes left in Q1 your bottom five drivers who are at risk of elimination are: Nico Hülkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, and Tsunoda, whose crash has brought an end to his day.
10:29: Only three minutes remain in Q1, and the cars are coming out for their final push laps. Notably Lance Stroll left the garage with a set of C5 medium tires bolten onto his AMR25. Teams have been struggling with the C6 soft compound as noted above.
10:28: Times are coming in as Q1 continues, and surprise surprise, Max Verstappen is currently in P1.
Replays on F1TV show several drivers, including Norris, Charles Leclerc, and Fernando Alonso dealing with some slides off the racing line and into the gravel.
10:19: The session will resume at 4:20 local time/10:20 Eastern. With one minute before the light turns green, cars begin to queue up in pit lane.
10:16: The red flag is still out at Imola after Tsunoda’s shunt.
You can see a replay of the incident here:
10:08: Tsunoda is out of the car and walks away from the RB21, and is able to climb into the medical car.
His RB21 has suffered significant damage, and he is likely looking at a pit lane start tomorrow.
10:06: RED FLAG. Yuki Tsunoda has gone off the line and into the wall hard, with the impact with the wall flipping his RB21.
10:05: We have some early lap times in Q1, and at the moment Alexander Albon is atop the timing sheets.
Perfect time to plug my chat with the Williams driver from earlier in the week.
10:00: We have a green light at Imola, and Q1 is underway. 18 minutes are on the clock, and traffic is going to be a massive factor as noted above.
Pre-qualifying notes
9:55: McLaren CEO Zak Brown predicts that the top three in qualifying will be Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Max Verstappen in some order. Take that for what it’s worth.
9:47: During the F1TV pre-qualifying show, Flavio Briatore talks with Lawrence Barretto about the switch from Jack Doohan to Franco Colapinto. Briatore brushes aside the idea that Colapinto just has five races in the car to prove himself at Alpine, stating that how long Colapinto lasts comes down to “performance.”