As it happened: 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying

This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.

That wraps up our coverage of qualifying – read the full report here.

Here’s the grid for the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix!

Russell uses his mediums to take third place off Norris.

Verstappen falls short by three-hundredths of a second. Piastri on pole!

Verstappen’s middle sector isn’t as good, isn’t going to be close.

Verstappen is hugely quick in the first sector. Norris is nowhere in the middle sector so he won’t be on the front row.

Piastri goes quickest of all in the middle sector, he dodges traffic at the Rivazzas and takes pole by a tenth of a second – but others are still to come.

Russell has opted for mediums, most of the others appear to be on softs including Verstappen and the McLarens.

Russell slots into fourth, within three tenths of a second of Verstappen. Everyone else is as near as makes no difference a second off.

Norris produces a 1’14.962 as the fight for pole begins. Piastri beats it by a tenth of a second, Verstappen is fastest in the first sector and the Red Bull driver takes it by less than five hundredths!

Q2 is over and the following drivers are eliminated: Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Gabriel Bortoleto and Franco Colapinto.

Stroll goes sixth on mediums, Hamilton is out, Alonso goes sixth and both Ferraris are out!

Gasly gets up to sixth place and Hamilton is at risk of elimination.

Sainz goes fastest! Remarkable lap, 1’15.198. Albon goes seventh.

Sainz is on a great lap in the Williams.

Hamilton, seventh, has had a poor middle sector and could be vulnerable.

Currently in the drop zone: Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Gabriel Bortoleto and Franco Colapinto (who crashed in Q1).

Piastri is quicker in the middle of the lap, though, and denies Norris by two hundredths of a second.

Norris sets a new benchmark with a 1’15.261 which puts him 0.139s ahead of Verstappen.

Russell goes faster than anyone in the first sector now. Antonelli goes sixth, Russell takes second.

Verstappen produces a 1’15.400 to head the times, Leclerc goes fastest in the first sector but is two tenths off at the line.

Colapinto is technically in this session, but he won’t be able to set a time, so he will definitely be one of the five drivers to drop out.

Q2 has begun and Bearman is not in after all, though there’s not been an official announcement on the outcome of the review of his lap time.

The FIA is looking into whether Bearman finished his lap time before the session was stopped. The ‘end of session’ red lights were displayed as he reached the finishing line, then the additional red lights for the stoppage due to Colapinto’s crash appeared later.

Another crash and it’s Colapinto! The Alpine driver is off in a cloud of dust at Tamburello. Red flag again. He says he’s okay.

Currently in the drop zone: Nico Hulkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda (who has crashed out).

Norris goes fifth, Piastri up to second.

Verstappen hits the top of the times with a 1’15.175 which puts him 0.52s ahead of Fernando Alonso.

Franco Colapinto is likely to get in trouble as he left his garage before the official resumption time was announced.

Q1 due to resume at 4:20pm.

While Verstappen’s first concern will of course be for his team mate’s safety, Tsunoda’s early elimination also means Verstappen won’t be able to count on a slipstream from him, which could have been useful in Q3.

Liam Lawson, who drove the car Tsunoda is in at the first two rounds of the year, saw the crash footage on his way back to the pits. “Oh my God, I just saw the video,” he told race engineer Mattia Spini. “Is he okay?” “Yeah he is okay,” Spini replied, “he’s out of the car.”

That was a big one indeed for Tsunoda. He lost the car on the kerb in the left-hand part of the corner, hit the barrier rear first and flipped over, then came back down right-side up.

Yuki Tsunoda’s crashed! Red flag. The Red Bull driver clearly had a big one at Villeneuve. He’s climbing out of the car.

Alexander Albon improves to a 1’16.164 which puts him 0.074s ahead of Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton puts up his first lap in Q1 but he’s behind Fernando Alonso with that, two hundredths of a second down

The slowest five drivers in practice were Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon. Will they all escape Q1? Qualifying starts in five minutes.

There is rain in the area but at the moment nothing which looks likely to hit the track during qualifying.

The situation is more concerning for his team mate Yuki Tsunoda, who was over a second slower than Verstappen in final practice. He ended that session among the bottom five, but has the 13th quickest time including yesterday’s running, indicating he should at least be able to get through Q1.

However, whether teams will be able to lap quicker on their softer tyres remains a significant question. Several drivers didn’t manage to in final practice, including Verstappen.

McLaren have been the team to beat so far this weekend, their two drivers heading all three practice sessions. Max Verstappen is in the mix, however, lapping within two-tenths of a second of them in final practice – and that was on the medium rubber instead of the supposedly quicker soft tyres.

Qualifying for the 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is coming up next.

2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

• Antonelli was tiring from home race at Imola attention by Friday – Wolff
• Ferrari struggling to recreate set-up which “worked well” in Shanghai – Hamilton
• Verstappen told Red Bull to use Tsunoda before “hold him up” call
• ‘Saturdays have been mine for years but for some reason it’s drifted away’ – Norris
• “Plan C?”: Why McLaren only got their strategy right for one driver at Imola