George Russell will be starting third on the grid, whereas Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris ended up fourth, followed by Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin at the fifth place. The highlight of the qualifying session was Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto crashing in the first phase.
Ferrari faced a new low in front of their home fans though, as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton came 11th and 12th, bowing out in the second round of the qualification process. .
Piastri grabbed his third pole of the season by clocking 14.670 seconds, as he now chases a coveted fifth win in seven races, including a fourth consecutive one to acquire a 16-point lead over the second-placed Norris.
“It was a very tough session with all the delays, the red flags,” said Piastri, who won in China and Bahrain from pole and has only increased in confidence and speed as the season progresses.
“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.”
Verstappen was provisional pole in 1:14.772 with Piastri 0.049 slower, but the latter was able to gain some extra milliseconds in the finishing seconds of the race. The Dutchman has won the last three Imola races, but was unable to beat Piastri’s final effort, which puts him behind already as he looks to cut gap with the McLaren duo leading him in the standings.
“Everything was going really well, just this softest compound is very difficult to keep alive around the lap,” the Dutch driver said of the Pirelli tyres.
“Sector one was good and then the tyres again fell away from me from there onwards by tiny margins.”