The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix has given us some interesting topics to discuss. Let’s go through them in our Race Takeaways!
McLaren should not differentiate strategies
For the first time this season, we saw McLaren completely differentiate the strategy between their two drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
As it turned out, stopping the Aussie early on was a mistake, which ultimately cost him the chance to finish ahead of his teammate, who had a worse qualifying.
If both Piastri and Norris are true Championship candidates, and they are, then McLaren should give them equal opportunities.
Verstappen is hungry for more, from Barcelona…
Max Verstappen has taken his second win of the year. He has done it with an outstanding move around the outside of Oscar Piastri at the start.
His Red Bull looked much better overall, compared to Miami especially, and might become even more competitive after the new technical directive, which will be introduced in Barcelona.
Ferrari need to sort qualifying out, otherwise in Monaco…
Once again, Ferrari proved they have some potential in the SF-25, but they just can’t quite exploit it every single session. Most importantly, their qualifying was awful in Imola, with both cars knocked out in Q2.
In the next GP, at Monaco, Saturday performance is everthing. If the team does not get it right, Leclerc and Hamilton might have a hard time scoring points.
Did Mercedes’ upgrades really work?
Mercedes brought some upgrades to their 2025 challenger at Imola, as did many other teams; but they had their worst weekend of the year so far.
George Russell fell off badly in the race, whilst home hero Kimi Antonelli did not get to Q3 in qualifying and retired in the race, because of a technical issue. The Brackley-based outfit might just have something to analyse…
The FIA ruined Bearman’s weekend
Before Franco Colapinto‘s crash brought out the red flag, Oliver Bearman crossed the line and set a fast enough time to go through to Q2. At least we all thought so.
Apparently, the FIA stewards disagreed, as they argued that there was a delay in communications, from their room to the track.
The young Brit found himself with his last lap removed and started all the way back on the second last row of the grid. A real shame, even more so because it was none of his fault.
Pirelli’s new C6 did its job
The brand new Pirelli C6, the softest tyre available in F1, made its debut at Imola. It is fair to say that it was a really successful one.
The new compound was introduced with the goal – and the hope – of giving teams a bit more of a headache when it comes to strategy, by having to choose between making one or two stops. And it definitely did that, so we look forward to see it in action again soon.
Formula 1 will be back in a few days for the Monaco Grand Prix, and so will be our Race Takeaways next week.
Read also: Imola Driver Ratings
