Formula 1 kicked off the European leg of the 2025 season by heading to Imola for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix – and it proved to be a highly eventful weekend both on and off the track.
After an action-packed few days that featured everything from remarkable comeback drives through to heartbreak at home for others – as well as the return of an old face, plus the appearance of some famous names in the paddock – we’ve rounded up all of the highlights in our Imola lowdown…
McLaren were never far from the top of the timesheets as the Emilia-Romagna weekend progressed – in fact they led every session on Friday and Saturday, culminating in Oscar Piastri sealing pole position ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Qualifying.
This unsurprisingly left many tipping the Woking squad to continue their run of form on Sunday. However, it appeared that nobody told Verstappen this, with the World Champion pulling off a sublime Lap 1 overtake on Piastri through the Tamburello chicane to take the lead.
Race Highlights: 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
From there the Dutchman rapidly built a gap at the front, while McLaren gambled on pitting Piastri early. It was a move that failed to pay off for the Australian, as Verstappen resisted the pressure of a potential undercut and remained out on track.
Timing was certainly on the Dutchman’s side when a Virtual Safety Car was called on Lap 29 after Haas’ Esteban Ocon pulled off the circuit, allowing the Red Bull crew to get him in for a pit stop and send him back out into the lead.
The scenario repeated when a full Safety Car was deployed later in the race, this time due to Kimi Antonelli parking his Mercedes on the grass, and from there Verstappen executed the subsequent race restart perfectly to hold his advantage and take a fourth consecutive Imola win.
McLaren’s strategy, meanwhile, saw Lando Norris ultimately finish ahead of Piastri after the Briton ended up on fresher tyres at the end of the race. While a 2-3 result is nothing to complain about, the reigning Teams’ Champions will be disappointed to have lost some ground to Verstappen, who sits just behind their drivers in third place of the standings.
Verstappen beat the McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri to victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
F1’s return to the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari heralded a special weekend for Lewis Hamilton, with it marking the first time that he would race in front of the Tifosi as a Ferrari driver.
Unfortunately it looked as if the team might struggle to give the fans something to cheer about on Saturday when they endured a disastrous Qualifying, in which both Charles Leclerc and Hamilton were eliminated in Q2 after ending the session in P11 and P12 respectively.
Each driver sounded wary of their recovery chances ahead of Sunday’s race – but it looked like the mood was determined in the Ferrari camp right from the start as both cars gained places and got their elbows out against the competition.
While the timing of the Virtual Safety Car and full Safety Car phases did not favour Leclerc – who was amongst those to pit early in the race – they proved well-timed for Hamilton, the seven-time World Champion losing little time when pitting.
That fresher rubber helped him to work his way up to a final position of P4, with Leclerc not far behind in P6. And while the latter was frustrated by how his race panned out at times, Hamilton spoke positively about the “really great feeling” of his fightback drive on what was surely a much better than anticipated day for the Italian outfit.
Hamilton: ‘To drive in front of the tifosi today has been the highlight of the year’
Williams have enjoyed a remarkable rise under James Vowles’ leadership and made it back-to-back P5 finishes with Alex Albon in another spirited display at Imola – adding to that stellar Miami performance a couple of weeks prior.
It speaks volumes that Albon was left with mixed feelings during his post-race reflections in the media pen, believing he and Williams had a genuine shot at finishing on the podium for the first time since the 2021 season.
Carlos Sainz topped up the team’s points tally with his own solid run to eighth place – the Spaniard starting ahead of Albon but losing out from a pre-Virtual Safety Car pit stop – and underlined that Williams now have two drivers operating at a similar level and pushing each other on.
At the foot of the championship order not so long ago, Williams find themselves a comfortable fifth in the standings a quarter of the way into the 2025 season – leading the midfield pack and starting to mix it with the teams ahead.
Now the big question is how long they will continue to put resources into their current car, and trying to remain in that top five spot, before focusing fully on 2026 and one of the biggest technical resets in F1 history.
The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix featured another strong performance from Williams
It proved to be a challenging maiden home Formula 1 race for Kimi Antonelli, as the young Italian failed to reach the chequered flag during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix due to a technical problem on his Mercedes.
The 18-year-old did not manage to reach Q3 in Saturday's Qualifying and started only 13th for Sunday's race, but was running inside the points before a reliability issue forced him out on Lap 44 of 63.
Speaking afterwards, Antonelli admitted that the pressure of competing in front of his home fans, which included his school class mates visiting the paddock on Thursday, had put more pressure on him than usual and left him feeling drained.
"[It] was definitely a really intense weekend, mentally and emotionally, and I think on my side I didn't manage things the best," he said.
"I think especially on trying to save energy, I didn't do a really good job on that and I could feel it affect a little bit the driving as well, because I could feel I didn't have as much energy."
Antonelli explains ‘throttle issue’ saw his forced to retire from his first home Grand Prix
Franco Colapinto's return to the F1 grid was far from perfect as the Argentinian crashed out in Qualifying for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, before finishing outside the points in the race.
Having taken over Jack Doohan's Alpine seat after much speculation, there was considerable focus on how the 21-year-old would perform, having shown flashes of speed with Williams during nine outings last year that also included several incidents.
There was another for the list as Colapinto found the barrier on the exit of the Tamburello chicane in Q1, causing damage to his Alpine and leaving him 16th on the grid – demoted one place for a pit lane infringement earlier in proceedings.
He could only manage 16th in the race, with Alpine's Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore suggesting during the weekend that Colapinto will remain in the seat for the season should he perform.
It was an eventful first weekend back in action for Colapinto
It can be difficult to overtake at Imola, so the drivers headed into Qualifying knowing grid slots could be crucial. But what unfolded was a dramatic session for all sorts of reasons.
First, Yuki Tsunoda suffered a huge crash in Q1 – his car spinning off through the gravel before rolling on impact with the tyre barriers. He was thankfully able to walk away, but that delayed the session. A second delay followed after rookie Colapinto spun his Alpine into the barriers too, which ended the first Qualifying segment.
But a third wait followed, with Haas questioning the decision to delete Ollie Bearman’s last lap time – which would have gotten him into Q2. He crossed the line just as the red flags came out, and in the end found himself down in P19.
Delays over and done with, Piastri did what he does best – put his foot down and nailed his last lap in Q3 to grab a brilliant third pole of the season. Verstappen found himself second, with Norris only able to grab a slightly disappointing fourth. But as it turned out, grid slots were not nearly as important as they had first appeared when it came to race day.
Qualifying Highlights: 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Valentino Rossi came to watch the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the Doctor a firm favourite sports star with many of the current crop of drivers.
He was not the only hero in town though, with some members of the Italian national rugby team not just coming to watch the action, but getting Esteban Ocon and Bearman to show off their passing skills – a different type of passing of course. Brazilian football legend Ronaldo - or 'O Fenomeno' to many football fans – was also in attendance, as the World Cup-winner kept one eye on his compatriot Gabriel Bortoleto.
FACTS AND STATS: Verstappen’s Imola record and Hamilton’s best Ferrari result to date
Antonelli meanwhile had welcomed the Bologna football team to the Mercedes garage, fresh from their cup triumph a few days before. The teenager also showed his entire school class around the F1 paddock, after inviting them up on Thursday to get a tour of his world.
Celebrities, school kids and sports stars aside, little Leo Leclerc has a four-legged rival in the paddock as Pierre Gasly’s miniature poodle Simboca also came to see her Dad in action. Sadly, there was no sign of Roscoe to police those two youngsters, Hamilton’s bulldog not putting in an appearance in front of the Tifosi this weekend.
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Verstappen storms to victory in thrilling Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix ahead of Norris and Piastri
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