Reigning Formula One world champion Max Verstappen put in a near-flawless drive to win the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, making it four consecutive wins at Imola.
Pole-sitter Oscar Piastri and his teammate, Lando Norris, couldn’t touch the Dutchman but managed to make the podium.
It was an extra-special win for Red Bull, who were celebrating their 400th Grand Prix weekend and, thanks to Verstappen, got the perfect gift.
As the lights went out, Verstappen stole the lead immediately, going around the outside of Piastri at Tamburello to take the lead at the second corner itself. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, had an early moment—going off at Piratella, he and Charles Leclerc went elbows out.
By Lap 10, Verstappen had built a two-second gap to Piastri. Norris picked off George Russell on Lap 11 as he went around the outside at the Villeneuve chicane to move into the podium places, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso close on their heels.
From Lap 11 onwards, the cars started coming in for their first stops. Leclerc was among the first, followed by Russell, then Carlos Sainz the following lap. Piastri came in for his stop on Lap 14 and rejoined in P12, while Norris moved up to P2—ten seconds behind race leader Verstappen, who was cruising at the front.
Piastri came out guns blazing after a relatively slow stop of 3.6 seconds, taking half a second out of Verstappen’s lead. He was back into the points in no time, and by Lap 20 he was the only one in the points who had pitted.
Norris came in for his stop on Lap 29, which also brought out the first Virtual Safety Car of the session as Esteban Ocon had to stop on the track due to a technical issue. Red Bull called in Verstappen for a cheap pit stop under the VSC and he came out without dropping any places. Alex Albon, who was driving stunningly for Williams, followed Verstappen into the pits, as did a host of other drivers for their second stops.
The VSC ended two laps later with Verstappen leading from Norris. Piastri, having pitted right after the VSC, came out outside the podium places. Verstappen continued to dominate at the front, while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was involved in a scrap with Isack Hadjar for P5, the veteran Brit keeping the rookie at bay. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s former teammate, Russell, was making moves just behind him as he got past Fernando Alonso to move to P9—just behind Leclerc.
As the race entered its final 20 laps, the top three of Verstappen, Norris, and Piastri—the latter having breezed past Albon—distanced themselves from the rest of the pack, with Verstappen holding a lead of over 18 seconds on Norris.
The race saw its first Safety Car on Lap 46 as young Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered a technical issue with his engine giving out. This brought Verstappen into the pits immediately as others followed. The Safety Car came in with ten laps to go. Verstappen zoomed away, with Piastri under pressure from teammate Norris. The restart helped Hamilton—back among the action, with the cars packed up, he picked off Russell for P6 with Albon in front of him, stuck in a Ferrari sandwich.
In the final couple of laps, Albon lost his P5 spot to Hamilton as the Ferrari drivers teamed up to drop him down a spot. Albon got the position back, though, as Ferrari asked Leclerc to give it back to the Thai-Brit for pushing him off the track.
Up ahead, the McLaren drivers proved no match for Verstappen, who eased to his second win of the season as Norris finished second ahead of Piastri. Hamilton finished a strong P4, ahead of Albon, Leclerc, Russell, Sainz, Hadjar, and Yuki Tsunoda, who had a quiet but strong Sunday after starting at the back of the grid.
The double podium has helped McLaren extend their lead at the top of the Constructors’ Standings. They now sit pretty with 279 points, with Mercedes second on 147. Thanks to Verstappen’s win, Red Bull have managed to close up on Mercedes and are now 16 points behind them in third. Williams’ strong double points finish, meanwhile, sees them go 31 points clear of Haas, making the fifth spot their own.
In the Drivers’ Standings, Piastri holds on to the top spot, 13 points clear of his teammate, but Verstappen has crept up on Norris and is now only nine points behind in third.
Imola was the first race of the European triple-header. The grid now moves to Monaco next weekend.
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