Oscar Piastri faced a nervous run to the flag on his fastest lap in qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The Australian qualified fastest but admitted he would have lost his cool had traffic in the final two corners of the lap ruined his chances.

Traffic threated to derail Oscar Piastri’s pole run

Piastri sat second to Max Verstappen as he began his second and final flying lap of Qualifying 3.

Fastest to the second split, the McLaren driver encountered George Russell, Carlos Sainz, and Pierre Gasly as he negotiated the Rivazza corners at the end of the lap.

The McLaren pilot scythed past the trio to record a 1:14.670, an effort that proved 0.034s better than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“I was going to lose my **** if that last corner cost me pole,” the famously laid back Aussie reported to his engineer, Tom Stallard, after being confirmed in top spot.

It’s the third pole of Piastri’s career, and the first in Europe, as he looks to build on his points advantage at the head of the Championship standings.

“It was good, I was happy with it,” he said of his pole lap.

“I felt like in Q3 I really found my groove.

“Wasn’t the easiest of days, really; FP3 I think everyone put the soft tyre on and started scratching their heads a bit.

“Qualifying itself obviously had a lot of red flags, a lot of long delays, so it was hard to build into a rhythm.

“But I think by Q3 I found me feet and the last lap of Q3 was a good one.

“I thought it was going to come unravelled,” he added.

“I thought it was going to unravel at the last corner with a few people trying to start their laps.

“But it was enough to get through there and still get pole.”

Mixed fortunes for McLaren in Imola qualifying

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While Piastri surged to pole position, it was another difficult session for teammate and title rival Lando Norris.

The Brit was only capable of fourth fastest after he was unable to improve on his initial Q3 laps.

Both McLaren drivers opted for the C6 Pirelli tyres, the softest in the range, which proved difficult to maximise such that George Russell used the medium rubber to qualifying third.

“We all put I on in FP3 and I don’t think anyone really went any faster,” Piastri said.

“My car certainly felt worse when I put that tyre on.

“But when you have four of them for qualifying, you don’t have many options.

“It was definitely a struggle; had to be pretty careful through the lap not to destroy it straight away.

“Obviously George qualified on the medium at the end; if I had a few more, I probably would have wanted a similar thing.”

With overtaking notoriously difficult around the Imola circuit, pole position leaves Piastri in a strong position heading into the race.

The Australian has won the last three events; victory on Sunday would make him the first Australian to win four consecutive races since Sir Jack Brabham in 1966.

“I think as long as I can get a good start,” Piastri said of his confidence headed into Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

“It’s a difficult track to overtake on.

“Our pace has been strong, I think our long run pace yesterday looked very encouraging, so I think as long as I can get a good start and have a good first lap, then that would be good.”

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