Formula 1 LIVE: Oscar Piastri to start from pole at Imola as he looks to win four in a row

Just a few minutes after Alex Albon’s Williams seemed in all sorts, the team’s mechanics – of course among the best in the world – isolated the source of the leak from his car, fixed it, and he’s now set to start from seventh on the grid after all.

Given his fantastic qualifying performance, it would have been a massive shame to see him miss the race.

The drivers love the 4.909-kilometre Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, otherwise known simply as “Imola” and former home of the San Marino GP.

But the fans love it even more.

This is 63 laps of heart-stopping, old-school, wheel-to-wheel racing on a circuit that’s as revered as it is famous. The track is tight, but boy is it fast.

Of course, we can’t even mention Imola without mentioning the late, great Ayrton Senna.

The Brazilian legend and three-time Formula 1 world champion was just 34 when he died in a crash at the Tamburello corner during the race at Imola in May 1994 – one of the most heartbreaking events in motorsport history.

Senna died after crashing out of the lead of the race in his Williams, but unfathomably he wasn’t the first driver to lose his life at Imola that weekend. In the final qualifying session the day before the race, Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger also lost his life – at the Villeneuve chicane.

Imola hosted its first non-championship F1 race in 1963, before hosting the Italian Grand Prix for the first time in 1980.

The lightning-fast, anti-clockwise circuit is full of iconic corners, such as Acque Minerali and Piratella.

With under an hour until lights out, Alex Albon and Williams have a problem – a big one.

The Thai star was stellar in qualifying and was due to start in seventh on the grid, but his car is currently in the garage being worked on as the Williams mechanics frantically search for the cause of a leak. He’s not certain to take his place on the grid at this stage.

In a chaotic qualifying yesterday, Oscar Piastri remained a model of calm and serenity amid the traffic to roar to pole position again at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in his ever more convincing push to become Formula 1 world champion.

Australia’s championship leader pulled out a corker of a lap when under the utmost pressure in his McLaren, edging out Red Bull’s four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen, while George Russell was third for Mercedes with Piastri’s unhappy teammate Lando Norris fourth.

Yet Piastri demonstrated the extent of his unruffled excellence at the end of a session which had to be twice red-flagged after Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and then Alpine’s Franco Colapinto crashed in the first phase.

Former Williams racer Colapinto took the seat of Australian Jack Doohan, who’s now the Alpine’s reserve driver – at least for the forseeable future.

For his decisive run in Q3, with Verstappen on provisional pole, Piastri had an awkward time, admitting he “thought it was going to unravel” when he approached slower cars towards the end.

But he still ended up 0.034 seconds quicker than Verstappen in one minute 14.670 seconds to earn his third pole of the season, putting him in the ideal position to earn a fifth win in seven races to stretch his 16-point lead over 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 shown all season he’s at his unstoppable best when controlling the race from the front.

“The lap was good. I had about four cars in the last corner, which didn’t help, but it was enough.

“So, [I’m] very happy with the job well done and excited for tomorrow.”

AAP

Good evening, and welcome to our coverage of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix from the famous Imola in Italy.

I’m Russell Bennett, and I’ll be taking you through all the action as bayside Melbourne product Oscar Piastri looks to win his fourth-straight grand prix and fifth overall in what is already a remarkable season.

It’ll be lights out and racing from 11pm AEST.