Verstappen overtakes Piastri at Tamburello to win at Imola

Max Verstappen secured his second victory of the 2025 season at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a first-lap maneuver that changed the course of the race, overtaking Oscar Piastri who had started from pole position.

An overtake in the first corner

The Red Bull driver executed a move around the outside at the Tamburello chicane that allowed him to pass the Australian McLaren driver for first place. "The start wasn't particularly good, but I was on the outside line, the normal line, and I thought I'd try to attack. It worked well," explained Verstappen after the race.

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While Piastri remained in second position, George Russell maintained his Mercedes in third place, with Lando Norris fourth, followed by Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, and Lance Stroll.

Franco Colapinto, in his first Grand Prix with Alpine, had a complicated start losing two positions, but managed to recover in the first few laps.

Pit stops and neutralization moments

McLaren tried to gain an advantage with an early stop for Piastri on lap 14, switching to hard tires. However, this action did not yield results, as the Australian driver lost time with a slow stop and returned to the track in twelfth position, among several competitors.

The race changed on lap 29 when the Virtual Safety Car appeared following Esteban Ocon's retirement, who had to withdraw his Haas due to technical problems, the second consecutive retirement for the American team after Bearman couldn't finish the previous race. This situation favored Verstappen, who was able to make his pit stop without losing hardly any time, returning to the track with an advantage of almost 20 seconds over his pursuers.

Final duels for positions

On lap 46, the safety car came out after Andrea Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes retirement. This moment was used by several drivers to make an additional stop, including Norris, Hamilton, and Albon.

After the restart, Verstappen pulled away while Norris overtook his teammate Piastri to secure second position. The Australian managed to maintain third place despite pressure from Lewis Hamilton, who completed a good recovery with Ferrari after a poor qualifying session that had left both Ferraris outside the top 10.

The final laps showed a duel between Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon for fifth position. The Monegasque closed his line, forcing the Williams driver to take an escape route. After a team indication, Leclerc yielded the position to avoid a penalty.

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Championship overview

With this victory, Verstappen achieves his fourth consecutive win at Imola in Red Bull's 400th Formula 1 race.

McLaren shows its pace with both cars on the podium, while Ferrari scores good points after a complicated Saturday, placing Hamilton and Leclerc in fourth and sixth positions respectively. The Italian team's recovery is important considering the setup problems they faced during qualifying.

Aston Martin failed to translate their good qualifying performance into the race. After placing Fernando Alonso fifth and Lance Stroll eighth on the grid, the British team saw their drivers fall back to finish in 11th and 15th positions respectively.

Isack Hadjar completed a good performance finishing ninth with Racing Bulls, while Yuki Tsunoda closed out the points after starting from the last position on the grid due to his accident in qualifying.

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Final results Emilia-Romagna GP 2025