Are we going to another dominant Saturday from McLaren, or will their rivals qualify a surprise in Formula 1 in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix?
The McLaren -Duo of Oscar Pienestri and Lando Norris has led the way over all three practice sessions. Piastri was at the top of the timing magazines in both FP1 and FP2 – with Norris just behind him in P2 – while it was Norris who was the fastest in FP3 earlier today, with Piestri behind him in second place.
An important story to view in today’s qualifying session is the soft C6 connection, which is used for the first time this season at Imola. While drivers switched from the medium compund to the softs late in FP3, FEMW improvements were found in round times. The possible reason? The soft tires were overheated at the end of the round and decorated handle levels through the last few corners of the circuit.
That can change how teams are approaching their warm -up rounds during qualifying, what the traffic we can see during Q1.
It could be a chaotic qualification session, and we will have it combined live here SB Nation, From the beginning of Q1 to the session.
Here is the provisional grid that we will fill in if qualifying unfolds at ICOLA:
Provisional qualifying results Emilia Romagna GP
| Row | Position | Director | Team | Position | Director | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row | Position | Director | Team | Position | Director | 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 Colapint | Alpine | 16 | Liam Lawson | Vcarb |
| Row 9 | 17 | Nico Hülkenberg | Sauber | 18 | Esteban Ocon | Hare |
| Row 10 | 19 | Oliver Bearman | Hare | 20 | Yuki tsunoda | Red Bull |
Note: Updates are all in Eastern times.
Q3 qualification signs
11:38: F1TV reports that Alonso qualified fifth on a scrubbed set of mediums.
11:35: Russell jumps on Norris on the medium -sized connection, but the day belongs to Oscar Piastri. His round takes the pole position, only 0.034 seconds for Verstappen.
Here is preliminary top ten.
Piastri
Rein
Russell
Norris
Alonso
Sainz
Alarm
Stroll about
Hadjar
Gas-
11:34: Verstappen was purple because of the first sector, but had a bit of a slanted second sector.
Norris’s time was good for third place.
11:33: The last Push round of Piastri has him for the benchmarking time of Versppen in the two sectors.
11:30: Verstappen is the first of the drivers who pull out of the garage for a last push round. There is just over three minutes left in Q3 and the wrist position is on the line.
Again Aston Martin bends on medium -sized tires for both Alonso and Stroll, but they are not alone. George Russell rolls from the Mercedes garage with a set of medium fixed on its W16.
11:27: Opening push rounds are done and it is Verstappen on provisional pole, just before Piastri.
Here is the current top ten, with every driver for a push round for more:
Rein
Piastri
Norris
Russell
Hadjar
Stroll about
Alonso
Sainz
Alarm
Gas-
11:22: Q3 starts and all ten rolls out on a set of soft tires.
11:20: I cannot remember that the last time we have taken up the balance of tires that had remained on Saturday, this was the number of every compound that the drivers entered today:
The tires for the rest of the weekend. It will be a career at 1 stop.
Remaining tires for the weekend. It will be on 1 stop racing. pic.twitter.com/mwq8hxqxyh
– Albert Fabrega (@albertfabega) May 16, 2025
I have just seen what we have seen from Aston Martin at the end of the second quarter, do we see more sets of mediums here in Q3?
Q2 Qualification potential
11:16: Here are the top ten of Q2:
Sainz
Piastri
Norris
Russell
Rein
Alonso
Stroll about
Gas-
Hadjar
Alarm
11:15: Aston Martin’s gamble works. Both Stroll and Alonso are moving forward, with a walk in P7 and Alonso in P6.
Whho Knock -Out? The Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Hamilton. Leclerc ends in P11 and Hamilton in P12. Antonelli, Bortoleto and Colapinto join the elimination zone.
11:14: Sainz Posts and Absolute Bangger of a round to go P1 as the clock ends.
11:09: With less than four minutes over in Q2, the cars roar out of their respective garages. Interestingly enough, Bown Alonso and Stroll have a set of medium -sized tires Boldo, because Aston Martin places a bet on the C5 -Medium Medums that are faster than the C6 softs.
11:08: Williams reports that Bow Albon and Sainz used soft tires for their first rounds in Q2. Albon is currently on the timing magazines, while Albon in P13 has been demolished.
11:06: With just under seven minutes in Q2, the lower five drivers are: Stroll, Gasly, Albon, Bortoleto and Colapinto.
11:04: The first push rounds are ready and we have a McLaren One-two on top of the timing blades, with Pienestri only 0.020 seconds for Norris.
11:01: As a reminder we have 14 cars in Q2, because Collapint continued to Q2, but his crash ended his day at the end of the first quarter.
10:59: Q2 is finally underway and it is indeed Bortoleto that first tracks down, followed by Verstappen.
10:58: Haas reports that the beamman’s lap that you have not restored, and he has not been eligible.
10:56: Bortoleto rolls out of the garage and takes his place on Pit Lane, so he is convinced that he is this …
Now we are waiting to see if Haas also sends the Bearman outside.
10:53: Race officials report that Q2 starts at 4:58 Local time/10: 58 Eastern Time.
Alex Brundle on F1TV now shows repetitions that illustrate that Bearman can promote Appter All.
10:51: This extensive delay is to allow Dark Dark Clouds to roll in …
10:49: Both Haas and F1 confirm that the last round of the Bearman will be revised:
10:46: Race officials have again postponed the start of the Q2 while checking the barrier after the crash of Colapinto.
Bearman still has to climb out of the VF-25.
10:44: Q2 starts at 4:46 Local time/10: 46 Eastern.
Q1 Qualification Authorities
10:43: F1 confirms that Bearman has been eliminated. Bortoleto continues to Q2.
10:42: Repeats on F1TV seem to confirm that the network flag was off before the Bearman completed his lap.
10:38: Jolyon Palmer on F1TV notes that lost in the chaos of the end of Q1 The fact is that Lance jumped to P4 on a set of medium -sized tires.
Yes, Aston Martin Broucht an upgrade package to Imola, but the medium -sized connection can now be faster than the C6 soft tires.
Also … there is subject in the distance again. More chaos could be on the horizon, literally and figuratively.
10:35: The start of Q2 is delayed.
That will give us subime to resolve the controversy that unfolds at ICOLA. F1 -Race officials have removed the time of the Bearman, who dropped him to P19 and promotes Bortoleto to Q2 in P15.
Haas will probably claim that he completed his lap before the crash of Colapinto, but we will see that Race stewards are treating this situation.
10:34: Colapint is technically ahead to Q2 in P15, but his qualification session is over.
Bearman Survisvés, so you posted on your lap that there was a good coverage to move pole Q2 just before Collapinto hit the wall at turn 4.
10:33: Another big crash, as Franco Colapinto has found the barrier at turn 4. While things are, the five drivers are eliminated Bortoleto, Lawson, Hülkenberg, Ocon and Tsunoda.
Colapint reports that he is in order because he has climbed from his A525.
10:32: Bortoleto’s last push round sees him jump in P15, so he has the chance to continue to Q2.
His teammate Hülkenberg, however, found the grave late in his lap and will end up in Q1.
10:30: With two minutes left in Q1, your lower five divers who run the risk of eliminating: Nico Hülkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon and Tsunoda, whose crash has bought an end to his day.
10:29: There are only three minutes left in Q1 and the cars come out for their push rounds. Notby Lance Stroll left the garage with a set of C5 medium tires on hisr25. Teams have Stuggel with the C6 Soft Compound as a comment above.
10:28: The times come in as Q1 continues, and surprise surprise, Max Verstappen is currently in P1.
Repeats on F1TV show Siveral drivers, including Norris, Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso who are involved in sub -sliders of the racing line and in the Serl.
10:19: The session will summarize at 4:20 Local time/10: 20 Eastern. With a minute before the light turns green, cars start to stand in line in Pit Lane.
10:16: The red flag is still at Icola after the shunt of Tsunoda.
You can see a repeat of the incident here:
10:08: Tsunoda is out of the car and runs away from the RB21 and is Uble to climb in the medical car.
His RB21 have suffered considerable damage, and he probably looks at a pit lane start Tomrorow.
10:06: Red flag. Yuki Tsunoda has gone hard and hard in the wall, with the impact with the wall that turns its RB21.
10:05: We have submitted early round times in Q1 and at the moment Alexander Albon is on top of the timing magazines.
Perfect time to close my chat with the Williams driver from earlier in the week.
10:00: We have green light at Icola and Q1 is underway. 18 minutes standing on the clock and the traffic becomes a huge factor as mentioned above.
Pre-Qalify Notes
9:55: McLaren CEO Zak Brown predicts that the top three of the Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen qualification will be in Sub Subd order. Take that for what is worth.
9:47: During the F1TV-PRE Qualifying Show, Flavio Briatore talks to Lawrence Barretto about the switch from Jack Doohan to Franco Colapinto. Briatore cleans Assoid The idea that Colapinto has only five Raes in the car to prove itself at Alpine, which states that how long Colapint lasts on “performance”.