By Ian Chadband
Australian ace Oscar Piastri qualified second at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, but will not start in the front row after being given a three-place grid penalty for impeding.
Piastri’s fine last-gasp qualifying lap on Saturday was bettered only by the resurgent champion Max Verstappen, but the Melburnian could celebrate being on the front row of the grid on Sunday before the penalty was announced.
“So, so close to pole, but very happy,” Piastri said, after his final lap fell just 0.071 seconds slower than Verstappen’s brilliant 1 minute 14.746 seconds.
Asked if he thought he could go one place better on Sunday and become the fifth Australian to win an F1 grand prix, Piastri reckoned he was not ruling out taking the step to the top of the podium.
“I think we’ve definitely been on the pace all weekend. You can never count out Max and Red Bull of course, like we’ve just seen, but I think the confidence is high.”
The penalty came after stewards investigated Piastri for having impeded Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in the first phase of qualifying.
Oscar Piastri was second-fastest in qualifying.Credit: AP
Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris, who was third fastest following his recent Miami Grand Prix win, moves up to second. “We are getting closer. To be ahead of Ferrari is also a nice result for us. It’s going to be close.”
It was another major step up for Piastri, whose car has been given the full package of upgrades that McLaren had first given Norris in Miami.
Properly armed, the Australian has managed to better his more experienced British colleague over the two days in Italy, also having finished fastest of all the drivers in the final practice session on Saturday morning.
For Red Bull’s Verstappen, it was a dramatic return to form after problems in practice as he maintained his astonishing qualifying record, tying the late, great Ayrton Senna’s Formula 1 record of eight pole positions in a row at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
Piastri will drop three places back on the grid.Credit: Getty Images
It was Verstappen’s 39th career pole in all as he seemed to, almost magically, find some extra pace after finishing fifth, sixth and seventh in the three Imola practice sessions.
“What a difficult start! But we turned it around,” he declared on race radio, having wrapped up his seventh straight pole of the season.
Senna achieved his eight in a row in 1988 and 1989 before dying in crash on the same Imola track in 1994.
“It’s a great start to the year and very special. It’s 30 years since Ayrton passed away, so very pleased to get pole and in a way it’s a nice memory to him. He was an incredible F1 driver,” Verstappen said.
There was bad news for Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, who missed the final shootout and will start from 11th place on Sunday.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso did even worse, having to settle for 19th having also crashed earlier in final practice.
Ferrari, who had dominated Friday practice, had to be content with fourth place from Charles Leclerc and fifth from Carlos Sainz in front of their home tifosi.
