Formula One drivers' championship leader Oscar Piastri will start on pole for the Italian Grand Prix after beating Max Verstappen in a thrilling qualifying session on Saturday.

A dramatic session featured two huge crashes involving Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine debutant Franco Colapinto, while Ferrari suffered their worst-ever qualifying performance on home soil at Imola.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were dumped out in Q2, finishing 11th and 12th respectively, which set the stage for a battle between the top four drivers in the championship standings.

McLaren had dominated practice with Piastri and Lando Norris recording three straight one-twos, but they found themselves challenged by Verstappen and Mercedes' George Russell.

Verstappen was quickest after the first Q3 runs, running a twentieth of a second ahead of Piastri, but the Australian's last lap of 1:14:670 proved 0.034 seconds quicker than his rival.

Career pole No. 3 for Oscar #F1 #ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/A8EJRuS0Z3

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 17, 2025

Speaking to Sky Sports after clinching his third pole in the last six races, Piastri said: "It was a great session but a very tough session with all the delays, red flags and the tyres. 

"The tyre has been very tricky today, I think after yesterday everyone thought the C6 was not too bad and today it was a real mystery.

"The team did a great job and got the car in a nice window. We've been trying a few different things this weekend and we got into a nice place for qualifying.

"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 we've done and I'm excited for tomorrow now."

Norris failed to make the same step forward in Q3 and will start on the second row, with Russell fourth and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso producing his best qualifying run of 2025 to start fifth.

Meanwhile, there was relief all around Imola when Tsunoda walked away from a huge crash, having hit the barrier at high speed going into Turn 5 and flipped his Red Bull over.

Grateful to see Yuki Tsunoda walk away from this enormous shunt in Q1#F1 #ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/hsviPlI66P

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 17, 2025

He will start last on the grid, after Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocan, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson and Colapinto, who crashed out on his first outing for Alpine.

Qualifying top 10

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 

3. George Russell (Mercedes) 

4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 

5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 

6. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

7. Alex Albon (Williams) 

8. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 

9. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) 

10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)