Max Verstappen achieved his fourth consecutive victory at Imola, executing an impressive overtaking maneuver at the start to gain the lead. He subsequently managed the race effectively from the front, maintaining his position despite a Safety Car period that reduced the gap among leading contenders. Lando Norris finished in second place, leveraging newer tires to overtake his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the final stages of the race.
When the lights went out, Piastri responded promptly and appeared expected to maintain his advantage. However, as they approached Tamburello, the McLaren driver decelerated slightly earlier than optimal. Verstappen maintained his line on the outside and executed an impressive overtaking maneuver to pass the McLaren and take the lead.
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Mercedes’ George Russell maintained third position ahead of Lando Norris and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. Meanwhile, near the top ten, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was applying pressure on Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. When Gasly went wide under braking, Leclerc capitalized on the opportunity to move into the points positions.
At the front, Verstappen began to establish a lead, and by lap 10, the Red Bull driver was nearly two seconds ahead of Piastri. Behind them, Russell was experiencing significant pressure from Norris, who overtook him in the Villeneuve chicane on lap 11.
Russell decided to switch from his starting Mediums to the Hard tire. Leclerc followed suit with the same tire change. When Williams’ Carlos Sainz also pitted, it appeared to prompt McLaren to take action. On lap 14, they brought Piastri in for an undercut; however, the pit stop was slow, and he rejoined in P12. Meanwhile, Verstappen opted to stay out and maintained a ten-second lead over Norris, who also chose to remain on track.
“The start itself wasn’t particularly great, but then I was still on the outside line—or basically the normal line—and I was like, “Well, I’m just going to try and send it around the outside.” And it worked really well,” Verstappen said. “That, of course, then unleashed our pace, because once we were in the lead, the car was good. I could look after my tyres and we had very good pace on it today. So, again, massive improvement from Friday, and I’m very, very pleased with that.”
Piastri commenced a recovery through the field and by lap 21 had advanced to P8. However, he was approximately 33 seconds behind Verstappen, who appeared to be gaining confidence on his initial Medium tires.
Norris made his pit stop for Hard tires on lap 29. Shortly thereafter, Haas driver Esteban Ocon pulled over and stopped at the side of the track just after Tosa. A Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed, prompting a rush to the pit lane. Max Verstappen took on Hard tires during this period, and once the positions settled, he was leading Norris by 20 seconds, with Williams’ Alex Albon in third place. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri, who made a second stop under the caution, was in fourth position ahead of Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls and Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes.
“Then that VSC was quite handy to pit. And even then, even on the Hard compound, I think our pace was very strong,” Verstappen added. “But then, of course, there was a Safety Car, so the field was all back together. But even then, on the restart, I think we managed it all really well and, yeah, brought it home. Incredibly proud of everyone. It’s been a very important week for us. The car has performed really well. And also, I think the whole execution of the race—when to pit, the pit stops themselves—they were all very good.”
At lap 46, Antonelli unexpectedly slowed and, similar to Ocon, came to a halt just after Tosa. As a result, the physical Safety Car was deployed. With the lead diminished, Verstappen made a pit stop for another set of hard tires. Norris also pitted to make the same tire change, while Piastri chose to remain on the track, advancing to second place ahead of his teammate. Leclerc also stayed out on the track, securing fourth position ahead of Albon and Russell.
“It was a long race from that perspective. Not easy to overtake, but we did what we could. I think Max drove a good race,” Norris said. “They were quick today—probably a bit quicker. We couldn’t keep up, and we had a good little battle at the end between Oscar and myself, which is always tense, but always good fun. But a good race. From us as a team, second and third is great. Of course, we would love to be up there fighting against Max, but they were too good for us today.”
The Safety Car exited the track at the end of lap 53, and Verstappen managed the restart effectively to maintain his lead. Behind him, the McLaren drivers competed for second place, with Norris, aided by fresher tires, ultimately overtaking his teammate to secure the position. Verstappen maintained a significant lead and, after completing 63 laps, finished the race in first place, claiming his fourth consecutive victory at Imola. This also marked Red Bull’s 400th race in Formula 1.
“Not our best Sunday. Definitely a lot of things to look at and review from that one,” Piastri said. “But, yeah, well done to Max and Red Bull. It was a good move but also, they had pace today. We’ll look back at that one and see what we can do a bit better.”
With Norris and Piastri securing the remaining podium positions, Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth place. The Ferrari driver capitalized on fresh tires following the Safety Car period, overtaking both Albon and his teammate Leclerc to earn 10 points. Albon finished fifth after passing Leclerc, who had opted to remain on older tires during the Safety Car. The Monegasque driver completed the race in sixth position, followed by Russell, Sainz, and Hadjar. Yuki Tsunoda finished in tenth place, earning the final point after starting from the pit lane.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 63 1:31’33.199
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 63 1:31’39.308 6.109
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 63 1:31’46.155 12.956
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 63 1:31’47.555 14.356
5 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 63 1:31’51.144 17.945
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 63 1:31’53.973 20.774
7 George Russell Mercedes 63 1:31’55.233 22.034
8 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 63 1:31’56.097 22.898
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 63 1:31’56.785 23.586
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 63 1:31’59.645 26.446
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 63 1:32’00.449 27.250
12 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 63 1:32’03.495 30.296
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 63 1:32’04.623 31.424
14 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 63 1:32’05.710 32.511
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 63 1:32’06.192 32.993
16 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 63 1:32’06.610 33.411
17 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 63 1:32’07.007 33.808
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 63 1:32’11.771 38.572
Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 44 1:01’29.744 Retirement
Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 27 37’42.335 Retirement
Photo/MaxVerstappen/X
