Max Verstappen teaches McLaren a lesson at the Imola Formula 1 Grand Prix

You don't just write off a four-time world champion. Overall slower than the McLarens of Australian Oscar Piastri and Briton Lando Norris since the start of the season, Dutchman Max Verstappen won the Imola Grand Prix (Italy) on Sunday, May 18, driving his Red Bull, the seventh round of the 2025 Formula 1 world championship.

Starting second on the grid, Verstappen gave pole-sitter Oscar Piastri a driving lesson from the opening corners of the race. At the end of the first straight, as the Australian tried to contain the Mercedes of Briton George Russell, who had started just behind him in third place, he failed to see the Dutchman coming from his right. Thanks to extremely late braking, the world champion overtook Piastri in two stages and two corners, taking the lead in the first few seconds.

"I took the outside line and tried to hold it," Verstappen said soberly after the Grand Prix. "I braked too early. It was a good overtake from Max," admitted Piastri, a good sport.

In the first third of the race, Verstappen and his Honda-powered Red Bull continually extended their lead, using medium tires while half the fleet pitted for hard tires. This was a doubly wise decision, as Verstappen's rivals, including Piastri, who opted to pit, found themselves stuck in a dense pack with tires that didn't create any significant time differences.

On lap ⁴⁷ (out of 63), the Dutchman saw his lead of around twenty seconds over the McLarens of Norris and Piastri reduced to nothing when the safety car had to be deployed after the retirement, in a dangerous area, of the young (18 year old) Italian Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes).

Frozen for a few minutes, the Grand Prix finally came down to the final ten laps, during which Verstappen once again managed to pull away. Behind him, the battle between the F1 cars equipped with fresh tires and those shod with worn rubber raged. This configuration allowed Lewis Hamilton, who started ^12th and ^7th when the safety car intervened, to move up to ^4th place, in front of an Italian crowd delighted to see a red car performing fairly well at home on the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit. At the end of the Grand Prix, Lando Norris, thanks to his new tires, took second place from his teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up ^3rd .

"The car was good today," Verstappen said. "I saw a clear improvement since Friday. And we executed the race perfectly, especially the pit stops." McLaren drivers acknowledged Red Bull's occasional superiority. "They were too strong for us today," admitted Lando Norris. "It wasn't our best Sunday," said Oscar Piastri.