MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman qualified 18th and 19th respectively for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Round 7 of the 2025 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Both drivers exited qualifying after the opening session, utilizing two sets of Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires in Q1. Ocon and Bearman banked times of 1:17.080 and 1:16.918 respectively before the first red flag stop - a heavy crash for Red Bull Racing's Yuki Tsunoda at Turn 6. Times improved on a second set of new softs, Ocon with a fastest time of 1:16.613 to classify P18.

Bearman set a time of 1:16.077 at the checkered flag to initially secure P10, before the first session was stopped again for the crashed Alpine of Franco Colapinto. However, the FIA deemed the lap time was set after the second red flag was out and cancelled the rookie driver's fastest lap - the decision vigorously disputed by the team, and subsequently discussed post-session with the evidence in hand. Despite this, Bearman was out of Q1 and classified P19 on the timesheets.

Ollie Bearman: "From our side, quali went well and I have no clue what happened for me not to be in Q2. I didn't see a red flag before I crossed the checkered flag, and the team saw the same from all the views they had, so I don't know why my lap time wasn't reinstated. It's a shame as we've brought an update to Imola - which has been months in the planning - and I've had good confidence in the car, and now we're very much out of position. It's tough to overtake here, so we'll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings."

Esteban Ocon: "It's been a frustrating weekend as a whole. We've done our homework in the best way possible, planned all the scenarios, and we were supposed to have a decent weekend here. We need to try and optimize things better, try and have smoother and cleaner weekends, and if we do so we should put the car back where it belongs which is in Q3 and fighting for points."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "Obviously this was a very disappointing qualifying. From yesterday and this morning, we knew it was tight, but I thought at least with one car we had the chance to get close to, or be in Q3 - so to have both cars out in Q1 is very disappointing. Conditions like the wind changed for Q1 so it was difficult, but I felt Ollie reacted very well to that, and to do a lap time like 1:16.077 - that's a very good lap.

"That lap time was deleted however as Race Control deems that the red flag came out before he crossed the line, and our view is different. We have various evidence to back it up, so we're talking to the stewards about it, but nothing changes this qualifying result. We'd like to understand how they came to that conclusion and are sticking to it. Clearly, they were discussing and debating it as the start of Q2 was delayed. For us, there's overwhelming evidence to say that his lap time should've stood, so that's our position currently, but with transparency we'd like to talk to the stewards about it.

"On Esteban's side, he's been struggling most of the weekend and yesterday we had a bit of an issue with car balance set-up, but then this morning from as far as I know, we didn't and he just couldn't quite get there. At the moment I don't know if we have an issue or not, but we need to look into it."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Imola here.