When you thought Oscar Piastri would run away with the 2025 Method 1 Drivers’ Championship, Max Verstappen wish to have a phrase with you.
Or maybe he’ll simply let his driving do the speaking.
The Pink Bull driver stormed previous Piastri on the opening lap of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after the McLaren driver acquired off to an amazing begin off the road. Piastri held the lead heading into the primary nook, however Verstappen roared round Piastri by means of the Tamburello chicane, making the overtake across the exterior to slip into P1.
You’ll be able to see Verstappen’s dramatic opening-lap overtake right here:
The Pink Bull driver didn’t have it simple from there, as he wanted to navigate a pair of Security Automobile restarts, first when Esteban Ocon pulled off the racing line and into the grass on Lap 29, then later when Kimi Antonelli misplaced energy on Lap 46. After Antonelli’s concern, each Verstappen and Lando Norris pulled into the pits for contemporary tires, whereas Piastri remained on the monitor to attempt to decide up place.
Verstappen nailed the restart and drove away along with his fourth consecutive win at Imola, in Pink Bull’s four-hundredth Grand Prix begin, forward of Norris, who overtook Piastri for P2. The Australian driver did sufficient to carry off Lewis Hamilton, who delivered a thunderous restoration drive to complete fourth after beginning twelfth.
The win pulled Verstappen to inside 22 factors of Piastri on the prime of the Drivers’ Championship standings, whereas Norris’ P2 pulled him to inside simply 13 factors of his teammate.
Alexander Albon completed fifth on a robust day for Williams, as Carlos Sainz Jr. completed eighth. Charles Leclerc crossed the road in P6 forward of George Russell in P7, and the previous teammates of Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda — now with Pink Bull — rounded out the scoring.
Tsunoda was in a position to ship an unbelievable restoration drive of his personal, climbing into the factors after a heavy crash in qualifying ended his day early on Saturday, and required a begin from the pit lane.