When team members arrived at the Imola paddock in the late morning, most of them were convinced it would be McLaren’s day. The high temperatures (track surface reached 47 degrees) created ideal conditions for the papaya-colored cars, fresh from their Miami triumph under similar conditions.
The only doubt was whether McLaren could achieve a one-two finish; for that, Lando Norris would have needed to pass both George Russell and Max Verstappen. But it turned out completely differently. Not only did Max avoid being overtaken—he seized the moment right after the start. A classic Verstappen late-braking move, made even more spectacular by Piastri’s overly cautious approach into the first braking zone.
That was just the appetizer from Max. Then Red Bull took center stage—lost on Friday, unbeatable on Sunday. McLaren’s team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged this: “Today we were surprised by Red Bull’s pace, they were very, very competitive. I believe they’ve improved and made a step forward with car development over the last two races.”
After the race, Verstappen spoke of a perfect execution, and indeed, everything worked flawlessly, not just the car’s performance.
After the start, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri pulled away from the pack. Oscar and the McLaren strategists realized they wouldn’t be able to overtake Red Bull on track, so they decided to pit early on lap 13. Verstappen and the Milton Keynes strategists turned what could have been a risky undercut into a small tactical masterpiece.
On paper, Piastri should have gained time on Max Verstappen thanks to fresh tires, but he got stuck in traffic caused by drivers who had started on hard compounds. The pit stop time loss at Imola is around 28 seconds, and the gap between Max and Piastri started oscillating between 30 and 32. While Piastri was pushing and navigating through traffic, Verstappen responded with worn tires.
It was a long-distance battle. Each lap, Max’s engineer told him “another one” because Piastri wasn’t yet within the pit window to force his stop. The goal was to build a tire offset over his rival, and on lap 29—well beyond the expected pit window—a Virtual Safety Car was deployed, allowing Max to pit in relative calm and maintain a strong lead.
Was that just luck? Certainly, it helped, but it wasn’t the deciding factor behind Verstappen’s second win of the season. After the following Safety Car (which froze the race from lap 47 to 54), Verstappen showcased his pace by pulling six seconds ahead of Norris in ten laps. It would have been a one-sided affair regardless.
After seven rounds of the 2025 calendar, Max sits third in the standings, 22 points behind leader Piastri. That’s a significant gap if McLaren were truly unbeatable, but what we saw at Imola slightly reshapes that perception.
“Our rivals have brought many updates,” Stella reiterated, “but ours will arrive soon too.”
The battle is on both on the track and in the technical departments at Milton Keynes and Woking. It may all seem routine—but it’s not. Just two weeks ago in Miami, the title race was thought to be over for anyone not driving a papaya-colored car. But Imola told a different story. The favorites haven’t changed, but what Max and Red Bull showed was no small feat—enough to set off the upgrade alarm at Woking.
McLaren is extremely solid, but this season’s unpredictable Red Bull can do anything—going in just 48 hours from a chaotic Friday (with Max angrily banging the steering wheel) to a dominant and unexpected victory. For now, the title fight remains wide open.
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