F1. Emilia-Romagna 2025 Review

By Gavin Huet, Aiden McLaughlin, Graeme Woolf , and Chelsea Wintle 

Aiden: Plenty of options to choose from at Imola this weekend. Lewis Hamilton delighted the home fans on race day by going from 12th to fourth. Alex Albon had another impressive showing, finishing fifth for the second time this season. But the passing manoeuvre by Max Verstappen on the opening lap will live long in the memory. Yes, perhaps Oscar Piastri could have made it more difficult for him, but let’s look at this glass half-full; Verstappen was fearless in the knowledge that this was his main chance of winning the race. Nerves of steel like that are why the Dutchman is far and away the best driver on the grid.

Graeme: The easy answer here is Max Verstappen after that excellent overtaking move on Turn 1 of the race. But as he had it pretty easy after that, I’m going for Lewis Hamilton. After a poor Qualifying by both Ferrari’s in front of their home fans, Hamilton started 12 th on the grid for the race. And by the time it was all over, he finished 4 th . Yes, it was a mix of great strategy and fortunate safety car timing, but this is a result that might just light a fire under his team to continue this kind of form going forward.

Gavin: Max Verstappen, for the best overtake that we have seen in years. Approaching the first braking point Oscar Piastri had the lead and was in the middle of the track defending against both George Russell and Max, and because Oscar was in the middle of the track he had to brake earlier, it turns out this was too early. For a brief moment in time Max slipped back to third, and then the magic happened as he went round the outside of Oscar and therefore took the lead, and then won the race. Max got lucky with the two safety car interruptions but he was also able to speed away into the distance at will and was never under threat from the McLarens.

Chelsea: It’s rare that a passing manouevre leaves me literally agape, but that’s what happened when Max Verstappen performed a late-braking move on Oscar Piastri on the first corner. With all the excitement about Piastri’s rise, and the battle with Norris for top spot, Verstappen proved once again that he is far and away the sharpest driver on the grid. Once in clean air it was a predictable victory – aided by some fortuitously-timed yellow flags – with the two McLarens taking the other spots on the podium. With Imola unlikely to be on the racing calendar in the near future, it will be missed, but Verstappen’s fourth win on the trot there is a fitting farewell.

 

Talking Point

Aiden: I know nothing about cars, that’s one of the reasons I have an AA Membership. But it amazes me how many drivers and teams don’t seem to understand what leads to improved performance or indeed, a deterioration in performance, from week to week. For Ferrari in particular at the moment, it seems like each race weekend is a bit of a guessing game. Depression after qualifying on Saturday was replaced by joy and renewed optimism after a much improved showing on Sunday. Aston Martin went the other way. I appreciate sometimes teams will be holding things a wee bit close to their chests, but these are clever people so genuine uncertainty really surprises me.

Graeme: That qualifying session! It started very early on when Yuki Tsunoda stacked his car in quite spectacular fashion, flipping it upside down on top of the wall at one stage. Looking at the wreckage is a testament to how safe these cars are, considering he walked away unscathed. And soon after, Franco Colapinto, fresh back into a seat after Alpine relieved Jack Doohan, also hit the wall and brought out another red flag. Saturday was certainly full of drama.

Gavin: Can someone explain the Ollie Bearman situation in Q1 please? It looked like he was through to Q2 but that red flag came out just before he crossed the line and he was out. According to the stewards, Bearman crossed the line less than 2.3 seconds after the red flag… Of course the signal needs to travel around the track and to the lights etc. so it is not instantaneous, and in other races the stewards have held off the red flag until the car that is almost across the finishing line completes their lap. It is one of the aspects of qualifying that if you have not already got a good enough time on the board that you can be knocked out by weather or flags, but this felt harsh for the rookie.

Chelsea: Williams! Alex Albon was a close contender for Driver of the Weekend, but it’s more than that – the FW47 is consistently snapping at the heels of the top three teams. This week, Albon finished fifth, but could easily have been fourth had he not lost out in a late stoush with Hamilton. Carlos Sainz also seems to be getting comfortable with his new team, and finished in a season-equalling best of eighth. Team boss James Vowles is one of my favourite people on the paddock, so I have a soft spot for the team, but more than that – how good to have yet another team with a genuine chance at podiums? I love this season.

 

Gossip Time

Aiden: It looks like that was the last F1 weekend we’ll see at Imola for the foreseeable future. Last November saw the announcement of a Monaco extension beyond 2025. We’ve also had a recent announcement about a three year extension to Mexico, as well as a ten year extension in Miami. Last weekend was the perfect opportunity to announce an Imola deal if there was going to be one and it simply didn’t happen. Madrid replaces Barcelona as the long-term home of the Spanish Grand Prix from 2026, but it seems that Barcelona could still be on the calendar as a second race in Spain, effectively replacing Imola. Perhaps we’ll hear more about that in the next couple of weeks.

Graeme: How long till Red Bull start getting edgy about Tsunoda? Having not exactly set the world alight with his performances since being promoted to the senior Red Bull team, I’m wondering if Christian Horner and Co are getting impatient already with him. Or have they written off this season already in terms of the Constructors Championship so are content with him finishing in the middle of the pack? Rumour has it that he’s gone next year anyway when Red Bull switch from Honda engines.

Gavin: Anyone else do a double take when they saw Daniil Kvyat in the Williams garage? Given the history between Daniil and Max’s partner Kelly Piquet and with all those memes you just felt for Daniil standing there. On a post race podcast he was saying he went to see his old Red Bull team and chatted to Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, he was also very complimentary of Max’s race. It could have been a lot more awkward than it was but still, his presence there would have sent all the tongues wagging.

Chelsea: The sudden departure of Oliver Oakes as Team Principal of Alpine raised some eyebrows recently. Alpine has a patchy recent history in its leadership division, and the return of ‘90s Lothario Flavio Briatore is a spectacle of its own. This week it was revealed that Oakes’ brother William, director of Oliver’s junior team Hitech Grand Prix, has been arrested and charged with transferring criminal property “after he was stopped in the Silverstone Park area… in possession of a large amount of cash.” There is no suggestion that Oliver himself has any link to the alleged wrongdoing but the timing does answer a few questions. Also, I’m dying to know what “a large amount of cash” is. I carry a fifty for emergencies and that makes me nervous.

 

Looking Ahead

Aiden: We’re off to Monaco this weekend and despite Ferrari’s improvement during the race at Imola, I just can’t see them repeating last year’s victory when Charles Leclerc done the business in front of his home crowd – they are simply too inconsistent in qualifying at the moment. There will be changes to the race, with a minimum of two pit stops per driver designed to make the glamour event of the F1 calendar more exciting on track, given that it is so hard to actually pass in the Principality.

Graeme: Monaco. A track I still know off by heart after spending many days playing Formula 1 96 back in the day on the PlayStation 1 that me and my brother went halves in one Sunday morning at Noel Leeming Nelson. Monaco was always great to race with the steering and braking assist on. I’d start from the back on purpose so I could crash and bash my way through to the lead by mid-way through the first lap. I was always Gerhard Berger. In real life, Monaco hasn’t changed much, because it can’t. I hear there’s a mandatory 2 stop strategy in place for this year which will make it interesting, but Pole Position is the key. If only they could drive like me and have no damage to their cars. Now that would make it fun!

Gavin: Monaco this year has two mandatory pit stops in an attempt to create passing opportunities. I am not sure anyone knows exactly how this will work on race day, if a car pits at the wrong time it could be costly, alternatively if they pit at the right time they could reap the rewards. I suspect everyone will be watching their opponents and the first one to blink will cause a wave of copycats, I pity any team that has two drivers too close to each other as double stacking in Monaco will be chaotic. Oh wait, maybe that is the whole point?

Chelsea: Is Lewis finally feeling more comfortable in the Ferrari, or is it a case of a broken clock being right twice a day? Qualifying didn’t pay off for Hamilton or Leclerc, with both being knocked out in Q2, but both drivers drove well and made their way into the points. Hamilton in particular was happy with his performance, battling with Antonelli mid-race before finally overtaking and finishing in fourth, beating Leclerc for the first time this season. I choose to believe this is the beginning of an upward trajectory. Roll on Monaco!

 

Bonus Picture

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