By Alan Baldwin IMOLA, Italy (Reuters) -Formula One leader Oscar Piastri kept calm under pressure to put McLaren on pole position for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday with Red Bull's Max Verstappen joining the Australian on the front row.

Oscar Piastri admits he thought it was going to be tough to beat Max Verstappen’s lap time at the end of qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix before ultimately taking pole position. Verstappen set the fastest time on the first runs in Q3,

Oscar Piastri fought his way through traffic to take pole position in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday as Ferrari had a terrible session, with neither car in the top 10. Piastri admitted he “thought it was going to unravel” when he came up to slower cars toward the end of his final qualifying lap but it still proved enough as Max Verstappen fell just .