F1. Italy 2025 Review

By Gavin Huet, D’Arcy Waldegrave, Aiden McLaughlin and Graeme Woolf

Driver of the Weekend

D’Arcy: Who drove it like they stole it? Max Verstappen was on a different race track. A different plane. An alternate reality with a cheat code. The race itself was the quickest in F1 history, Verstappen securing maximum points with an average speed of 250.706 kph, completing the race in 1:13:24.325, so yeah, very rapid at the Temple of Speed. Red Bull principal Laurent Meikies said a tweak for qualifying suggested by Max “pushed us into a rather unusual set-up direction”. Unusual, but damn effective.

Aiden: Williams Team Principal James Vowles was bullish at the start of the weekend about the prospects for his drivers, but Carlos Sainz started P13 at Monza and teammate Alex Albon was P14. Nonetheless, Albon continued his fine run of form, finishing P7 to go to seventh in the driver’s championship with 70 points to his name. Who would have had money on those dizzy heights at the start of 2025, especially with Sainz struggling down in 18th with just 16 points since his lauded move from Ferrari.

Graeme: It has to be Max Verstappen.  In qualifying, he set the fastest lap ever at the Temple of Speed, Monza and then the race was the quickest ever in Formula 1 history.  After a blip at the start, Max retook the lead quickly and was never to be seen again until the podium.  Red Bull found some serious speed somewhere this weekend and used that to their advantage.

Gavin: Max Verstappen. He got stronger throughout the weekend, put his Red Bull on pole, briefly fought off the challenge of Lando Norris in the first few laps which included having to give back a place and then retaking it anyway, and then led until the end with a margin of 19 seconds. I think everyone thought that the McLarens would reel him in and then take the 1-2 in whichever order the pit wall decides, but that smaller Red Bull rear wing did its job.

 

Talking Point

D’Arcy: The managed finish by McLaren has raised the eyebrows of the peasant class, who may have watched every episode of Drive to Survive, but still struggle to grasp the fundamentals of Formula 1 teamwork. It’d be more interesting if the title were on the line, then we’d see exactly how the team dynamic works. I think Lawson’s talking point should be who put him on that strategy. Hadjar? Sure, dig your way out of a qualifying hole, but the soft tyre choice to start was an unnecessary dice roll. At least Lawson gave Tsunoda something to piss and whinge about, Liam is the target of the season from every driver on the grid. Panic strikes every pilot who sees the RB 30 in their mirrors. Living rent free….

Aiden: Jeez that race flew by didn’t it? It took one hour, 13 minutes and 24 seconds to be exact. With the exception of Monaco (which needs to be a distance of 260kms) every race needs to be 305 kms – the length of the circuit will dictate how many laps that is. So with good weather and no safety cars, that was the quickest race there’s ever been and I doubt there was anyone there who complained about not getting value for money.

Graeme: It seems Papaya Rules has come to the fore again.  Late in the race Lando Norris said to pit Oscar Piastri first.  Being the lead driver in the team on the track, Norris could choose and suggested Piastri pits first to head off the chasing Ferrari of Charles Leclerc behind.  He did that and when Norris pitted the front left wheel took some time to go on and he lost valuable seconds, meaning he came out behind his teammate.  Soon after, team radio said they should swap positions and they spoke about Hungary last year, when the opposite applied.  On that occasion Lando took half the race to swap, but here Oscar duly swapped right away.  Happy days in the end for the McLaren team as they battle for 1 & 2 in the standings.

Gavin: Papaya Rules… again… This time it is the team that painted themselves into a corner and no matter which way you look at it, fans on either side of the garage will be unhappy. So what happened… It was time for the McLarens to make their pit stop to change tyres, the usual protocol is that the driver in the lead gets to pit first to ensure that there is no undercut (where the car behind gets to take the lead through a later stop), however this time McLaren decided to pit their second car, driven by Oscar Piastri, first reasoning that they wanted to ensure that the Ferrari of Charles Lecrlerc could not undercut Oscar, not very likely when he was almost 30 seconds behind. The team assured both drivers that there would be no change to their relative positions and all would be good. And like clockwork, it wasn’t. Lando pitted after Oscar and the front left wheel was not secured the first time round, and by the time Lando rejoined the track he was behind Oscar. The team immediately told their drivers to swap positions citing their Papaya Rules, which Oscar questioned as he considered a slow pit stop to be a racing incident which would be outside of their agreed rules. He did give the place back, and after the race echoed the company line saying it was all fair, but was it really? You can certainly understand why fans are questioning those instructions. The further we progress through the season the more difficult these team instructions are becoming and at some stage a driver will be regretting one of these decisions, just as long as it is not your favourite driver it should be ok.

 

Gossip Time

D’Arcy: If only. Back-stabbing blamestormers, every one of them. I’m glad I don’t know what they’re all lizard-tongueing over, but I’ll hazard a guess that Stroll’s future on the grid must be a topic of conjecture. Italy’s pre-eminent F1 writer Georgio Terruzzi has suggested that Chuck le Clerk is on his way out with this line: “His posture and tone of voice reveal a boy resigned in the face of a dull present, a future devoid of opportunities, worn down by a long love story that isn’t working.” Although the tifosi, him included, are probably just having a sulk after being disappointed at home.

Aiden: So the delay on George Russell’s contract for 2026 is almost at an end according to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

“With George, there’s a few things where we want to optimise some of the travelling and the marketing days, how many hours we’re putting in. We want to have the best performance of the drivers and I think we’ve given both of them quite a strain with marketing activities and media activities and this is how we’re recalibrating.”

The bubble of F1 must be all consuming and although we know all these commitments ultimately pay the bills, it’s refreshing to see a team work with a driver on how much is enough off the track. The one percenters are so important in high level sport and anything that George can reduce in that space can only have a positive impact on his performance.

Graeme: Verstappen had a rocket ship of a car this weekend.  With a fast track next up at Baku, maybe Max is on the comeback to mount a proper challenge for the title.  Time will tell on that, but those 2 McLaren drivers better be looking over their shoulders as I don’t think the Dutchman is done just yet in his quest for a 5th straight title.

Gavin: A bit of a nothing weekend for the home team with neither Ferrari driver able to get onto the podium, though fair play to the Tifosi who sang the Max Verstappen song when he came out to collect his trophy for winning. Ferrari may have committed to a long term deal with boss Fred Vasseur but how long will Lewis and even Charles stick around hoping for better days? Arriving to the track on a motorbike draped in the Italian flag will only placate people for so long.

 

Looking Ahead

D’Arcy: I can only hope that the McLarens get closer on points and the ensuing cross-garage battle gets some fuel poured on it. I don’t believe Norris has the temperament to deal with that. Nothing like adding the weight of stress to the g-forces already at play. With 8 races to come, starting at Bacu in a couple of weeks, I’m looking forward to seeing how many more events they can shoehorn into a season, which would go hand in hand with Ben Sulayem’s desire to add another team to the grid. The Red Bull seat allotment is due; let’s hope Liam avoids the poisoned chalice…

Aiden: We’re off to Baku for one of the most impressive street tracks the calendar throws up. In 2024, Lando Norris had a nightmare, not even making it past the first qualifying session. Although he managed to finish fourth in the race, it was Oscar Piastri who won, with McLaren taking the lead in the constructors title. They haven’t looked back since, but Norris needs to keep chipping away at his teammate’s lead, which now stands at 31 points.

Graeme: Baku, Azerbaijan in a couple of weeks.  A street circuit which takes drivers through and newer and older part of the city.  While there are some tight corners, there’s also a super long straight which feeds into the start/finish line.  Last year it provided some late race drama between Carlos Sainz and newly minted Cadillac driver Sergio Perez, so hopefully we get some action next week.

Gavin: Lando or Oscar? Oscar or Lando? That is the only thing left to look at this season really, the McLaren drivers have the Championship all but sewn up, we just don’t know which one will be crowned champion. Mathematically Max could still do it but he would have to win everything whilst the McLarens take points away from each other and I am not sure that is likely to happen. I still think team orders will knobble one of them at some stage so… *popcorn gif”.

Bonus Picture(s)

The Tifosi out in the midday sun.

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