EMILIA ROMAGNA GP – Max Verstappen wins by six seconds after sweeping past both McLaren’s
Max Verstappen has won the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after finishing six seconds ahead of Lando Norris, the Red Bull driver took the lead at the start after sweeping around Oscar Piastri at Tamburello. It was a brilliant move which then gave him control of the race, though the McLarens tried their best to challenge the Dutchman for victory.
It was a key defence by Verstappen at the start, when he went around the outside in a brilliant move, which gave him the edge over the two McLarens in Red Bull’s four-hundredth Grand Prix.
From then on, he was able to control the race and take his fourth win in a row at Imola and may start his fight back against the two McLarens for the championship, after he broke away denying Piastri a tow. Verstappen was able to defend throughout the race than Red Bull expected the tyres not to hold up, while the McLarens could only make in-roads by a couple of tenths.
Piastri finished six seconds behind Norris but could have lost out by the decision to stop earlier than his teammate and Verstappen. The Englishman had passed his teammate thanks to being on fresher tyres at the final restart. It also looks as if McLaren made a mistake in bringing the Australian in early when he was second behind the Red Bull, which gave Verstappen when the pit stops played out a ten-second lead.
The gap was clearly too big for Norris to close, though he was able to close to within six seconds of Verstappen. Piastri’s hopes of second were over as the stop dropped him into traffic before recovering to finish third but just under seven seconds behind his teammate Norris
Piastri acknowledged that they had made some “wrong calls” and also that he had “braked too early” on the first lap when challenged by Verstappen. But while they were unable to make inroads on Verstappen, Piastri and Norris remained evenly matched. Mclaren chose then not to apply ‘Papya rules’ as by that point Verstappen had gone.
By finishing second Norris cut Piastri’s championship lead to thirteen points, with Verstappen’s win putting him nine behind Norris.
Verstappen said: “The start itself wasn’t particularly great but I was still on the outside line, the normal line, so I was like ‘well I’m going to try and send it around the outside’ and it worked really well. Of course, that unleashed our pace because when we were in the lead, the car was good. I could look after my tyres.”
Norris, who finished second in Imola: “It was a long race, from that perspective, it was not easy to overtake but we did what we could. Max drove a good race, they were quick today, probably a little quicker. We had a good little battle at the end between Oscar and myself which was tense, but always good fun.”
Piastri said “[At the beginning], I just braked too early, it was a good move by Max [Verstappen]. It was disappointing, but we made a few wrong calls after that. It wasn’t our best Sunday, there’s a few things to look at and review. Well done to Max and Red Bull, they had pace today. We’ll look back and see what we can do better.”
Lewis Hamilton had a strong race on his first race in Italy for Ferrari with fourth three and a half seconds behind Piastri, it was a brilliant drive for the seven-time champion after he was knocked out in Q2, scoring his best result for Ferrari. A long opening stint brought him into play as he showed the Ferrari had decent race pace, using an offset tyre strategy to fight from twelfth.
The fresher tyres in the closing stages allowed him to make up places early on, then in and aided by the safety car and virtual safety car brought him into the fight for the podium as he finished a second behind Piastri.
Hamilton said, “I’m so, so happy, the experience with the Tifosi, wow, so thank you to everyone who came out. It was really special for me to see the sea of red but it looks like one of the biggest crowds we’ve had here. It felt vintage, it felt like back in the day when I was watching Michael [Schumacher] race here, it was a really great to see and experience.”
Alex Albon spilt the two Ferrari’s finishing three and a half seconds behind the seven-time champion. The Williams had been passed by Charles Leclerc in the closing stages, however, Albon’s lunge at Tamburello forced Leclerc to cut the corner and come out ahead with three laps to go. To avoid an investigation on the final lap, Leclerc was instructed to cede fifth to the British-Thai driver.
George Russell was seventh, the Mercedes driver finishing just over eight and a half tenths behind Albon as he split the Williams, with Carlos Sainz eight and a half tenths behind. A strong weekend for the team as they continue their unexpected form in a season they had expected to focus on 2026.
Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli retired from what could have been his only home Grand Prix because of a throttle issue, though the Bolognian will hope for a better result at Monza in September. This was another pivotal moment in the Verstappen’s fight with the McLarens.
The Dutchman stopped for a second set of hard tyres, as did Norris. Piastri stayed out, splitting the pair for the final ten-lap shootout as the field was released on Lap Fifty-Four. On fresher tyres Norris made quick work of his team-mate, but he was unable to stop Verstappen from marching to a second win of the 2025 season, while Piastri settled for third.
Isack Hadjar brought his Racing Bull home ninth, nearly seven-tenths behind Sainz and ahead of Yuki Tsunoda by nearly three seconds. A brilliant recovery by Tsunoda following a huge crash in qualifying to take the final point in tenth, though that wouldn’t have been the result Red Bull would have wanted.
Fernando Alonso was eleventh the Aston Martin driver missing out on the points after finishing eight tenths behind Tsunoda as the two-time champion struggled for pace after qualifying fifth meaning he slipped back in the race. Alonso was a second ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber, while Pierre Gasly was thirteenth.
Liam Lawson was fourteenth finishing nearly half a second ahead of Lance Stroll, on his return Franco Colapinto was sixteenth just over four-tenths behind the Canadian. Ollie Bearman was comfortably ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto by nearly five seconds, while Bearman’s Haas teammate Esteban Ocon was the only other retirement.