Oscar Piastri looks to make it four in a row for McLaren; F1 results, schedule, Imola, tickets, map, track; Formula 1; Ferrari; Max Verstappen; Lando Norris; Lewis Hamilton

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