Oscar Piastri admits rivals can never ‘count out’ Max Verstappen after Dutchman’s pole position at Emilia Romagna GP

However, the fortune soon turned in Max Verstappen’s favor as the Dutchman posted the fastest lap of the Q3 session and was only a tenth ahead of Oscar Piastri.

So, so close to pole but so happy - it's been a little while since I was last up here. I think yes [we can fight for the win]. You can never count out Max and Red Bull but confidence is high. Oscar Piastri said in the post-race interview

After claiming second place, the Aussie deemed the pole to be so close yet so far, as the wildcard of Verstappen snipped away the pole position. Furthermore, he stated and cautioned the rivals to never leave the Dutchman out of their predictions as the reigning champion is always in the range to attack and snip away any given chance.

Nico Hulkenberg and Max Verstappen aced the towing game during Imola quali

As indicated above, the Dutchman claimed pole by a margin of just seven-hundredths of a second ahead of the Aussie. However, the buffer Verstappen received could be thanked down to Nico Hulkenberg, as the German gave a tow down the straight which would have gained the reigning champion precious milli-seconds.

After the end of the qualifying session, Hulkenberg shared why he helped Verstappen in his bid for pole.

Max[Verstappen] and I have been helping eachother out this Quali, he helped me out a few times in Q2, and I returned the favour here. So yeah, you need supportive colleagues sometimes, don't you? Nico Hulkenberg said in an interview with Sky Sports

The German revealed that during Q2, Verstappen had helped him by giving him a slipstream down the straight, which proved to be crucial as the Haas driver secured another outing in Q3. Thus, to return the favor, Hulkenberg helped the 26-year-old on his final lap, which became one of the factors for the latter to claiming pole position.

However, the points are awarded on Sunday, and Verstappen would have a charging Piastri behind him going into turn one. Thus, fans could expect the 63-lap Imola race to be an entertaining affair as McLaren and Ferrari would be charging down the Red Bull and amidst all this, a strategic mayhem could ensue.