The winners and losers from F1’s 2025 Imola GP

While fans of old school venues may have wanted to see Imola stay on the calendar, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix hasn’t always delivered since its modern F1 return. But Pirelli’s move towards softer compounds, as well as a race impacted by two neutralisations, gave us the strategic variance we craved for so long at F1’s Imola GP.

The reigning world champion struck again with a brilliant lap one attack, while McLaren will be wondering why Red Bull was able to keep pace two weeks after a very different picture during the last race.

Winner: Max Verstappen

Following a run of Oscar Piastri victories and a depressing Miami Grand Prix in which Max Verstappen finished 40 seconds adrift, Red Bull could use a bit of a boost – and Verstappen’s emphatic Imola win delivered just that.

This time there weren’t any particular heroics in qualifying as Verstappen had to cede pole to Piastri by the thinnest of margins. That was all soon redundant thanks to an excellent launch off the line and a late braking move around the outside into Tamburello. Yes, Piastri could have done more to make life difficult for the world champion, but it was another wonderful move that underlined how Verstappen still makes the difference at Red Bull.

But Verstappen led the early laps in Miami as well, so what was really pivotal was how much Red Bull could keep its rear tyres alive and finally defeat McLaren at face value – on a circuit where degradation played a key role. Imola is not McLaren’s favourite playground, but this weekend could still be crucial to Red Bull’s story arc this season.

Losers: McLaren

Having said all that, McLaren’s race performance was still not as strong as expected. Piastri was unlucky with the timing of the first (virtual) safety car, but neither he nor team-mate Lando Norris could take significant chunks of time out of Verstappen’s lead on either the medium or hard tyres.

There is clearly no reason to panic either – just two weeks after a crushingly dominant Miami display – and further upgrades are forthcoming, but there is a feeling that the 2025 season just received a shot in the arm. Has Red Bull found the answers to take the fight to McLaren at a range of circuits? McLaren is still extending its championship lead, however, as it has two drivers up on the rostrum – which is something Red Bull can still only dream of.

Loser: Yuki Tsunoda

And that’s because Yuki Tsunoda hasn’t really been able to kick on yet at Red Bull, as evidenced by his huge qualifying accident, which the Japanese driver took responsibility for and said it highlighted how he doesn’t understand the Red Bull RB21 when driving it on the limit.

What is annoying for Tsunoda is that he looked pretty comfortable with the car in Friday practice. But when the engine modes are turned up and every last ounce of speed counts, Tsunoda is still far from where he wants and needs to be.

It was great to see the likeable Japanese driver step out unhurt and there was little wrong with his tenacious one-stop recovery drive from the pitlane to a point in 10th. But writing off the entire car, just as he got on par with Verstappen regarding Red Bull’s latest floor specification, is going to put him on the back foot on spare parts and engine components down the line. Tsunoda really needs a few clean weekends now.

Winner: Alex Albon

The Williams felt so quick that at one point Alex Albon was daydreaming about having a go at the McLaren of Piastri. It was a bit fanciful perhaps, but the Anglo-Thai driver keeps delivering the goods for his team and remains comfortably eighth in the standings, nipping on the heels of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

The good news for Williams is that Carlos Sainz is right there with Albon too, although it pitted the Spaniard too early, which led to him finishing in eighth instead. That slight misstep aside – if Williams’ aim is to maximise its potential before its rivals bring more upgrades, then it’s certainly working. For a team that has been so focused on 2026, it sure has improved its short-term fortunes a lot.

Loser: Aston Martin

Aston Martin was the big winner of Saturday qualifying with Fernando Alonso placing fifth and Lance Stroll eighth. That came after a gamble to keep an extra set of mediums at the expense of a second set of hard tyres for the race. It was a calculated risk in the knowledge that Sunday’s race would be a nailed on two-stopper, but it came back to bite the Silverstone team as two safety car periods impacted the strategy.

The team’s fortunes were not helped by very early stops to the hard tyre, which left both Alonso and Stroll exposed when Aston decided against bringing the pair in under the second safety car. Alonso was ultimately beaten to the final point by the recovering Tsunoda, which meant Aston leaves Imola without a just reward for its comprehensive upgrade package.

The good news is the new components finally seem to be a step forward in most areas, giving Aston some much needed perspective for the remainder for 2025 – rather than just having to wait for a new dawn in 2026.

Winner: Lewis Hamilton

We have not been able to put Hamilton in this bracket all too much this season, and the seven-time world champion certainly still has work on his plate. But his flawless drive from 12th to fourth, aided by how the race unfolded but also backed up by genuine pace, was soothing balm for a scratched soul after a debut Ferrari season that hasn’t exactly gone to plan.

The significance of his recovery drive taking place on his first race in front of the tifosi was not lost on Hamilton, saying it gave him flashbacks of watching Michael Schumacher soak up the adulation of the scarlet-clad hordes some 25 years ago.

Time will tell if this is another unicorn weekend or if it’s the real start of Hamilton’s Ferrari era. But having cut a despondent figure in recent weeks, the seven-time champ looked reinvigorated on Sunday afternoon. That’s already a win in and of itself.

Loser: Mercedes

Alpine and Haas could have earned a spot here after a difficult weekend, but eventually we went with Mercedes because of its clear step backwards in race performance. George Russell qualified well – as he has done all year – but on his used mediums from qualifying he soon lost touch with Verstappen and Piastri, and rear axle overheating kept impacting the team’s pace and strategy, meaning it had to pit early and convert to a two-stopper.

That difficulty of optimising the tyres seems to be a clear trend that has carried over from last year, when the team’s form also fluctuated from circuit to circuit. The good news, however, is that its baseline performance is higher this year.

On the other side of the garage, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a challenging weekend that ended with his first grand prix retirement due to what the team explained was a throttle failure. Having qualified 13th, Antonelli admitted that his first home race in Imola wasn’t his finest weekend yet and given the attention on the 19-year-old Bologna native, perhaps that is understandable too.

Much like how a high-profile Monza crash on his rookie FP1 outing was an important learning opportunity last year, so too was the way he and Mercedes handled the buzz around his homecoming under the watchful eye of fans, family and friends.