Emilia-Romagna GP takeaways: Verstappen's Lap 1 brilliance

We'll offer our takeaways following each race weekend this year. Here are our thoughts after the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Moments that decided the race 👀

Verstappen, Red Bull seize control

Red Bull celebrated its 400th Grand Prix in perfect fashion as Max Verstappen took victory in Imola.

If you leave Verstappen an inch, he'll capitalize. Verstappen smelled blood at Turn 1, unleashing a bold but controlled move around the outside of championship leader Oscar Piastri to take the lead.

Piastri was uncharacteristically conservative in defense after keeping his elbows out against Verstappen in Jeddah, but perhaps he was hoping to live to fight another day. That, unfortunately, wouldn't transpire as the McLaren pit wall called him for an early pit stop due to tire concerns. Those worries proved to be ill-fated as Verstappen and Lando Norris posted quality lap times while Piastri fought through traffic.

It never felt like Verstappen was going to relinquish this victory, even when he faced minor curveballs such as a virtual safety car, which worked perfectly in his favor, and a full safety car. In the end, it was a record-breaking fourth straight win in Imola for the Dutch pilot.

So, where did this dominant Red Bull pace come from? The Milton Keynes factory brought a significant upgrade package to Imola that focused on the engine cover, rear corner, and rear suspension. A floor package also came to Miami. With those updates, and Imola not known for being a high-tire degradation track, Verstappen was able to take the fight to McLaren.

Verstappen warned everyone not to write him off after he fell 32 points behind Piastri in Miami. He clawed back 10 in Imola. The next races include Monaco, which is always tricky for Red Bull, and Barcelona, which will introduce a major front wing regulation change. Those events will be pivotal for his championship odds.

The Ferrari cycle

Being a member of the Tifosi isn't easy. At one moment, you're sitting at rock bottom with no visible way out. About 24 hours later, a mysterious force offers you a ladder and an escape route becomes visible.

Ferrari went through that exact situation again in Imola. Both Ferrari drivers failed to make it to Q3 for the first time since the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc started 11th, while Lewis Hamilton began 12th. It was a disaster for the Italian home fans as only Sauber and Haas set a slower lap time in qualifying.

And then Sunday happened. Naturally, with little to lose, Ferrari opted for a gamble, starting Hamilton on the hard tire and Leclerc on the medium. The Italian squad even pitted Leclerc earlier than most of those ahead, and it seemed like it'd work. Then came the unpredictable virtual safety car and safety car, which played into Hamilton's favor but cost Leclerc.

The end result? Twenty points for Ferrari as Hamilton had his best result in a grand prix race for the Scuderia with a fourth-placed finish, while Leclerc finished sixth.

While it was a positive recovery result in front of its home fans, it's fair to wonder if the near-podium results will make Ferrari believe the SF-25 is only a few solutions away from the front-runners. If so, the finish could lead the squad down a dead end.

Aston Martin's brief revival

Aston Martin finally brought a major upgrade package that seemed to work.

The Silverstone-based team brought a whopping seven performance upgrades to Imola, which included an updated floor, diffuser, engine cover, and beam wing. A heavy dosage of optimism typically follows that type of package, but Aston Martin has trended backward in each of the last two seasons.

Aston Martin came to Imola as one of two teams, joining Sauber, to not have a Q3 appearance. However, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both made Q3. What's more, Alonso qualified fifth, only behind both McLarens, Max Verstappen, and George Russell.

Unfortunately, the results didn't translate to the race as Aston Martin's qualifying gamble to use medium tires, its strategy, and the timing from the safety car left both drivers out of the points. Alonso, who fought back to 11th, called himself the unluckiest driver in the world during the race.

Aston Martin's qualifying results are too small a sample size to say whether the team has steered the ship straight, but there's optimism that its new wind tunnel, which went into use in March, was the catalyst for the bright spot. Either way, it's a good sign Aston Martin didn't find itself in the same tier as Sauber this weekend.

Mercedes' worst day in years

Mercedes came to Imola with a multitude of reasons to be optimistic: fresh upgrades, George Russell closing in on Verstappen, and of course, a homecoming for Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli.

However, Imola decided to crash Mercedes and Antonelli's party.

The W16 still struggled with tire temperatures in the race as Russell suffered from degradation far worse than any of the other front-runners. He placed seventh, marking the end of an impressive run of 11 consecutive top-five finishes that dated back to Mexico last year. It was a cold reality check for a constructor that was hoping to make progress on its race pace.

Antonelli had it even worse, as he was cursed with home race heartbreak. In front of the Italian crowd, the 18-year-old was eliminated in Q2 and his Sunday ended on a whimper as he was forced to retire due to a car issue.

Mercedes left Imola with just six points, its fewest in a weekend since the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix.

Driver of the Day 🙌

Max Verstappen: The difference Saturday between Verstappen and Piastri's pole - .034 seconds - was the only element that kept the Imola conquest from being a grand slam for the Red Bull driver, who led all 63 laps and recorded the fastest lap. His overtake at the start was one of the best of his career. There was no better driver this weekend than the reigning world champion.

They said what? 🗣️

Horner on Verstappen's great overtake on Lap 1: "His start, and that first corner, was kinda win it or bin it. The commitment that he had - and Oscar was fair and gave him space - but you can see he's coming from way back and pushes up the inside. He just commits to the corner, and that was the last they saw of him. Incredibly decisive, and he's just so good in those situations."

Norris positive with race result: "I think second was the best we could have achieved today. Max was fast, the Red Bull was quick, so I don't think we really had an answer for them, even in the final stint."

Hamilton seeing Ferrari improvements: "The experience with the Tifosi, 'Wow.' It was very special to me to see the sea of red. ... I definitely didn't expect for us to finish fourth today. I didn't know where we would be able to come, given we were so far back. The car felt great, the team did a fantastic job with strategy; they were faultless. I think we're slowly getting there."

Russell on Mercedes' struggles: "We were just dead slow. The trends are pretty clear: When it's hot, we're slow, when it's cold, we're quick, and that was the same as last year. We've been doing everything with the setup to find solutions, but there's clearly something more fundamental with the car. ... Today, we were very lucky to finish P7 in all honesty."

What's next?

The European tripleheader rolls into Monaco on Sunday, May 25 at 9:00 a.m. ET.

There have been six different winners at the circuit over the last seven races. Leclerc celebrated the first win at his home race last year, while Verstappen claimed victory in 2021 and 2023.