IMOLA, ITALY — Max Verstappen defeated McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to win Formula One’s 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix — a race that featured several thrilling passes from the lead drivers.
Verstappen made a stunning move at the start to steal the lead from polesitter Piastri immediately, with the Red Bull running clear while behind Norris struggled to pass George Russell. Once Norris was by, with his own sensational pass on the Mercedes, Piastri and Russell soon pitted in the anticipation of the race being a surprise two-stopper.
Verstappen and Norris ran clear, with the Red Bull enjoying a 10-second gap and seemingly on the best strategy as Piastri, Russell and the rest of the early stoppers struggled to pass in the pack on the narrow Imola track. Piastri made some positive progress with Verstappen-style moves at the Tamburello chicane (effectively the Imola track’s first corner).
A mid-race virtual safety car (VSC) activation called when Esteban Ocon’s Haas pulled off the track meant Verstappen could pit and double his lead — Norris had stopped just before the intervention — while Piastri and the early stoppers came in again. From there, Norris started closing down Verstappen’s massive gap but had not carved much out when the race twisted again.
Kimi Antonelli also pulled off with a car issue close to where Ocon had retired earlier, and this time the recovery took place under a full safety car activation. Verstappen and Norris stopped for fresh tires, which meant Piastri climbed back to second but with much older rubber as he suddenly sat directly behind the long-time leader.
At the restart, Verstappen dropped his pursuers immediately and ran clear to score a second victory of the season. Norris eventually battled past his teammate to gain second place with another thrilling move at Tamburello.
Behind, the Ferrari drivers recovered to finish fourth and sixth after their poor qualifying, split by Williams driver Alex Albon. Russell ended up seventh ahead of Carlos Sainz in the other Williams, Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda — another on a recovery drive after his massive qualifying crash.
The Athletic’s experts, Luke Smith and Madeline Coleman, analyze the key talking points from the race at Imola.
Max Verstappen’s breathtaking overtake set up the win
It’ll go down as one of the best moves of Verstappen’s career, if not the best. He was a long, long way back from Piastri heading to Tamburello on Lap 1 — having not made the best of getaways and even momentarily slipping to third as George Russell nosed ahead in his Mercedes in the compressed pack just after the lights went out.
But then Verstappen produced some magic. Piastri may have thought he had the corner covered on the inside, but that didn’t stop the reigning world champion from launching it to the outside — braking much later and carrying much more speed than the McLaren. He just about kept it within the white lines that define track limits, but Piastri had zero choice but to back out and give up the lead.
Considering how tough overtaking can be at Imola and the McLaren’s inherent pace, Verstappen knew he had to do something special if to stand a chance of beating Piastri. The Dutchman produced it precisely.
Verstappen worked through the graining phase on the tires (that forced Piastri into an early stop) and then held on until the Ocon VSC before pitting, which helped his lead at the front to swell to 20 seconds. That seemingly ended the fight for the win until Antonelli’s stoppage brought out the real safety car, which wiped away Verstappen’s lead and brought the field into play. But Verstappen controlled the restart well on fresh tires and pulled clear of the chasing McLarens.
That overtake at the first corner was the game-changer for Verstappen. It ensured both he and Red Bull made their rivals move first on strategy and could keep things under total control from there. It could go down as a vital move should the championship get close at the end of the season.
Luke Smith
A boost for Norris, but questions await McLaren
Second place may only have netted Lando Norris a three-point gain on his McLaren teammate and championship rival Piastri in the standings, yet this was an important momentum boost for the British driver.
Norris, the preseason title favorite, had seen Piastri rack up three straight wins heading to Imola and was without a victory himself since the opening round in Melbourne. He was arguably the quicker of the two McLarens last time out in Miami, only for the Lap 1 loss to Verstappen and his subsequent struggle to overtake the Red Bull proving costly in terms of further points loss to Piastri.
After a so-so qualifying to start P4 on Sunday, and taking a bit of time to pick off Russell for third in the race’s early stages, Norris could follow Verstappen’s lead and work through the medium tire graining phase. This meant he could try and stick to the one-stop strategy, along with the leader. The VSC then forced Piastri into an early second stop, allowing Norris to sit ahead on the road.
The full safety car changed that picture, dropping Norris behind Piastri again, albeit with fresh tires compared to the 17-lap-old hard Pirellis on the Australian’s car. Taking the restart right behind Verstappen, Norris was surely the better bet for the win, yet there didn’t appear to be any discussion within McLaren about giving him track advantage over Piastri with which to try and attack Verstappen. By the time Norris eventually passed Piastri to take P2 for good, only six laps remained, and Verstappen had already disappeared five seconds up the road. It was game over.
Given the fine margins and constant reviews that McLaren puts its tactical decisions through, opting against swapping the cars (as galling a call as that would’ve been for championship leader Piastri) is something people will question. The team will also want to understand why its pit stops were rather slow and sloppy across Sunday’s race, with two separate stops having slow fittings of the right-front tire.
But as much as this was a needed result for Verstappen in the context of the championship standings, Norris’s win over Piastri should also come as a welcome improvement for the pre-season favorite.
Luke Smith
Ferrari erases a disappointing Saturday in front of its home fans
Ferrari faced an uphill battle heading into the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, after Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were knocked out in Q2. As overtaking is so difficult at Imola, starting 11th and 12th isn’t ideal — particularly in front of the Tifosi that had helped fill the stands to record-breaking numbers. Hamilton said he was “devastated” on Saturday, while Leclerc commented, “I hope I can do some miracles”, come the race.
That’s what Ferrari needed: A clean day on what was anticipated to be a one-stop race.
It became a tale of two races as Leclerc stormed out of the gates. He moved up to tenth from starting 11th by Lap 2, while Hamilton dropped from 12th to P13. Leclerc started on the medium tire — Pirelli’s pre-race race strategy predictions showing the potential pit stop window for that tire for a one-stop strategy as Lap 19 to 25. But Leclerc dove into the pits on only lap 11, which undercut a good chunk of the pack. He emerged from the pits in P17 and began picking off drivers ahead one by one. He set the fastest lap en route to reaching ninth by Lap 27.
But that advantage evaporated when Ocon retired on the grass lining the climb up the hill from the Tosa hairpin. The virtual safety car was activated at Lap 29 — triggering a slew of pit stops where everyone bar Piastri initially pitted (the McLaren driver coming in a lap later). This forced Leclerc into a two-stop race while Hamilton pitted for the first time, switching from the hard tire to the medium — the Briton having started the race on the contra-tire strategy. When the VSC ended, the seven-time world champion had been a big gainer, as he ran seventh behind Antonelli. Leclerc, meanwhile, sat 10th.
Hamilton surged on the medium tire, setting what was then the fastest lap while picking off Antonelli and then Isack Hadjar for fifth a few laps later. He reported over the radio that he had to use a lot of his tires in making those moves, though. Leclerc also had the race’s longer-lasting tire, as he’d stuck with another set of the hard tires during his VSC pit stop.
The big question was whether a team orders saga would take place (again, given what happened last time in Miami). Hamilton was told to pick up the pace with his teammate having charged through the pack to sit 1.5 seconds behind his teammate by Lap 45. But different strategy played out after Antonelli triggered the real safety car’s emergence at Lap 47. Leclerc questioned whether Ferrari should go with fitting the soft tires but was kept out — to climb to fourth behind the leaders — while Hamilton did have a second pit stop, emerging seventh and back on the hard tire.
The Ferraris both had strong safety-car restarts, but Leclerc’s tires were more than 20 laps old by that point. He soon found himself in a battle for fourth with Albon, whose tires were much newer as he too had stopped under the safety car. But when Albon went off in the gravel trying to hang on with an outside-line pass at Tamburello against Leclerc, Hamilton slipped by. He’d shot further up the order on his fresh rubber and quickly went on to pass Leclerc for fourth shortly afterwards, given that tire advantage over the other Ferrari.
It wasn’t a podium, but a fourth-place finish from Hamilton and a sixth-place finish from Leclerc is a strong result — especially considering where the SF-25 cars had started. Though Leclerc understandably won’t be thrilled. He was running fifth but had to let Albon by to avoid a possible penalty for the Tamburello incident and expressed his frustration again over the radio.
Madeline Coleman
Williams rockets ahead in 2025’s ‘best of the rest’ battle
Williams’ race showed how the Imola contest was about strategy amid the passing challenge, plus a dash of luck.
Sainz and Albon started the race sixth and seventh after a strong qualifying performance from Williams and this put the duo in healthy track position in the pack, with hopes of making critical point gains in the midfield battle. This is especially important as Williams has already stopped development of its 2025 car given the big rule changes coming next year. Both Sainz and Albon had clean starts and kept their positions after the opening lap, with Sainz the first Williams driver to pit — swapping mediums for hard tires on Lap 13.
Albon, though, stayed out and found himself within the top five as the race wore on and it became clear the one-stopper was the best strategy before the VSC and safety car interventions. When running third, he radioed the team to request it “not be stupid,” over when it did eventually call him in. But Albon is quietly celebrated as a tire whisperer and he made his mediums last without a massive drop-off in pace.
The Ocon VSC then gave Albon a great boost as he could pit for hards and gain time as Verstappen did ahead. But Sainz was amongst those that had to stop a second time at this stage, which hurt his potential and confined him to running in the pack outside the points as the race headed into the closing stages. Sainz faced the challenge of plucking off drivers, but he overtook Tsunoda, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso at Tamburello (all on different laps). There was slight contact with Tsunoda, but unlike in Bahrain this did not lead to major damage for either car.
And then came the full safety car. Here, Albon’s second pitstop meant he ran fifth behind Ferrari’s Leclerc, while Sainz was up to eighth. Albon asked Williams for information on where Leclerc was likely slow at the restart, looking for a spot to capitalize. It became a battle between the blue and red. Sainz was behind Hamilton at the restart but could not follow him up the order.
The timing of virtual and real safety car periods can make strategy calls during such stages lucky or unlucky and it’s a risk teams know they have to endure. While Sainz was initially unlucky with the timing of the VSC, a P8 finish from the Spaniard and a P5 finish from Albon is still a mega points haul for Williams to start off the European stint of the 2025 calendar. Heading into the weekend, the team was just 17 points clear of Haas in fifth place in the constructors’ standings. Leaving Imola, Williams now has a hefty 31-point lead over its closest midfield rival.
Madeline Coleman
Provisional race results (Top 10)
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
- Alex Albon, Williams
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Carlos Sainz, Williams
- Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
- Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull
Driver championship standings (Top 10)
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren — 146 points
- Lando Norris, McLaren — 133 points
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull — 124 points
- George Russell, Mercedes — 99 points
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari — 61 points
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari — 53 points
- Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes — 48 points
- Alex Albon, Williams — 40 points
- Esteban Ocon, Haas — 14 points
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin — 14 points
Constructors’ championship standings
- McLaren — 279 points
- Mercedes — 147 points
- Red Bull — 131 points
- Ferrari — 114 points
- Williams — 51 points
- Haas — 20 points
- Aston Martin — 14 points
- Racing Bulls — 10 points
- Alpine — 7 points
- Sauber — 6 points
(Top photo: LUCA BRUNO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
