Tsunoda and Colapinto suffer heavy crashes during Emilia-Romagna GP qualifying

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s rookie returnee Franco Colapinto were involved in dramatic crashes during the opening phase of qualifying for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Saturday.

Tsunoda’s incident occurred at Turn 5, where his car spun and slammed backwards into the tyre barrier, briefly launching into the air before flipping and landing upside down on its roll hoop. The car then rolled back upright. Thankfully, Tsunoda emerged from the wreck unaided and appeared unharmed, though he was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks. Qualifying was temporarily halted while marshals repaired the damaged barrier.

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson, who was replaced by Tsunoda earlier this season, reacted in shock over the team radio after seeing replays: “Oh my god! I just saw the video. Is he OK?”

Following a 15-minute stoppage, the session resumed but was quickly interrupted again when Colapinto crashed near the end of Q1. Making his Alpine debut in place of the dropped Jack Doohan, the Argentine rookie ran wide onto the grass at Tamburello, lost control, and crashed head-on into the barriers—destroying his front suspension.

Despite the crash, Colapinto had already recorded a fast enough lap to advance to the second phase of qualifying. The Argentine, who drove nine races for Williams last season and experienced both incidents and point-scoring finishes, was uninjured in the crash.