Red Bull celebrated their 400th Grand Prix in style as Verstappen claimed victory and Norris continued his impressive podium run at Imola.
As with every Grand Prix weekend, it is time to look at the most striking statistics, the records that were broken, the impressive streaks that continue, or those that abruptly ended during the past weekend.
Qualifying
Oscar Piastri gave McLaren its first pole position at Imola since 2005, the year Kimi Räikkönen started from the front for the British team. That makes it the first in 20 years.
Verstappen missed out on a fourth consecutive pole by just 0.034 seconds. For the first time this season, the reigning world champion starts from second place.
George Russell took third place, his best-ever starting position at Imola. It is the third time in four Grands Prix that he starts from this spot.
Lando Norris, in fourth, starts outside the top three for the third time in four Grands Prix. Still those Q3 issues.
Fernando Alonso, fifth, recorded his best starting position at Imola since 2006. A lifetime ago. He also brought Aston Martin into Q3 for the first time this season.
Carlos Sainz, in sixth, became the first Williams driver since Valtteri Bottas in 2014 to start three consecutive Grands Prix in the top six.
Alex Albon, seventh, matched his starting position from Miami, where he finished fifth. However, he was outqualified by Sainz for the fourth race in a row.
Lance Stroll, eighth, secured his best starting position at Imola.
Pierre Gasly, in tenth, reached Q3 for the third time in the last four Grands Prix.
No Ferrari qualified in the top ten – a first in Formula 1 history at Imola. That stings. You’d have to go back to the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix for a similar scenario at another circuit.
Charles Leclerc qualified 11th and has now outqualified Lewis Hamilton six times in seven Grands Prix. Lewis starts from 12th for the second race in a row.
Kimi Antonelli, the local hero, narrowly missed out on Q3 for the first time since his debut in Australia.
Once again beating Nico Hülkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto continued his progress with a 14th-place start – his two best qualifying results have come in the last two races (13th in Miami, 14th here).
Despite a crash in his Alpine, Franco Colapinto reached Q2 for the fourth time in ten attempts since his debut.
Liam Lawson was eliminated in Q1 in over half of this season’s Grands Prix.
Nico Hülkenberg, 17th, equaled Kick Sauber’s worst qualifying result of 2025.
Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in Q1 for the first time this season.
The Race
Max Verstappen claimed his second win of the season and the 65th of his career.
A fitting way to celebrate Red Bull’s 400th Grand Prix start. This win is the team’s 124th of the 21st century, surpassing Ferrari’s 123 in the same period, even though Red Bull’s first victory came only in 2009.
The win at Imola makes Red Bull only the second team to win on its 400th Grand Prix start, joining Williams who did so at the 2001 French GP with Ralf Schumacher.
The Dutchman secured his fourth consecutive victory at Imola, setting a new record for most wins at the circuit. He’ll surely miss Imola when it drops off the calendar next year.
Verstappen also delivered Red Bull’s 100th fastest lap in history.
With Lando Norris in second place, the top two steps of the podium mirrored the 2024 edition.
Norris claimed his fourth consecutive podium at Imola… still without a win.
Piastri, third, completed the podium. The top three in the championship finished together… but in the reverse order of their standings, with only 22 points separating Oscar Piastri, the leader, from Max Verstappen in third.
The Verstappen–Norris duo finished 1st–2nd in that order for the 11th time in their careers.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, his best race result (in a Sunday Grand Prix) since joining Ferrari. It was also the first time he beat Charles Leclerc over a Grand Prix distance.
Alex Albon, in fifth, earned his third top-five finish of the year. Already. For context, Williams did not record a single top-six finish between 2022 and 2024. This is the team’s best result at Imola since Juan Pablo Montoya’s third place in 2004.
Leclerc, sixth, continued his streak of top-ten finishes this season, though he has only one podium (Saudi Arabia).
George Russell (seventh) maintained impressive consistency: he is the only driver outside the Piastri–Norris–Verstappen trio to have scored points in every 2025 Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz, in eighth, helped Williams get both cars in the points for the third consecutive time. With 14 points in a single weekend, it is the team’s best haul since the 2017 Azerbaijan GP, when Lance Stroll’s podium earned them 15 points.
Isack Hadjar took ninth for Racing Bulls. The Faenza-based team has now scored points at every Imola edition since the circuit returned to the calendar in 2020.
It was Hadjar’s third points finish in the last five Grands Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda finished tenth in the second Red Bull after starting from the pit lane. This marks the second year in a row he scores at Imola from that same position.
Fernando Alonso finished 11th with Aston Martin – his third 11th-place finish this season, once again missing out on points. Frustrating after securing his best qualifying of the year (5th in Q3).
Nico Hülkenberg finished 12th for Kick Sauber, their best result since Australia.
This Imola Grand Prix also marked Sauber’s 600th start in F1, with Peter Sauber present in the garage.
Kimi Antonelli experienced his first-ever Formula 1 retirement… on home soil.
Esteban Ocon also retired. It was his first DNF since joining Haas.
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