In Pictures: Emilia Romagna 2025

The first quarter of the season is now done and dusted and, apart from a brief interlude in Canada in mid-June, the European season starts now, and goes on until the Italian Grand Prix on 7 September. The Emilia-Romagna e del Made in Italy Grand Prix takes place at the Imola circuit, named in memory of Enzo Ferrari and his son Dino. This part of the season, which contains the majority of races regarded as the classics of the championship, is thus bookended by rounds in Pirelli’s home country, which has hosted more rounds of the Drivers’ World Championship than any other nation. 74 out of a total of 107 races have been held in Monza, 31 in Imola, while Mugello and Pescara have hosted one apiece.

Pirelli introduced the new C6 compound at Imola, pairing it with the other two softest tires in its 2025 range. This was the first time drivers ran the C6 on this season’s cars, as it wasn’t used during pre-season testing in Bahrain.

FRIDAY

The C6, Pirelli’s softest compound in the 2025 range, made its official debut at Imola. Over the course of two hours of free practice, the Hard compound remained untouched, not even for the usual scrub-in laps some teams favor. This points to the C4 playing a pivotal role in Sunday’s race strategy. The Soft and Medium compounds were used in exactly equal measure, each covering 2,307.230 kilometers across more than 470 laps!

Track action for the Emilia-Romagna e del Made in Italy Grand Prix got underway with McLaren once again in the spotlight. Oscar Piastri led the way in both free practice sessions, narrowly ahead of team-mate Lando Norris. The championship leader set a 1’16”545 in FP1 before improving by over a second to clock a 1’15”293 in FP2. The gap between the two McLaren drivers was razor-thin: just 32 thousandths in the first session and 25 in the second.

SATURDAY

There was more variety than usual in Saturday’s tire usage. The Hard compound made its first appearance of the weekend in FP3, with both Aston Martins completing runs on it. As a result, they’ll each have just one set available for the race. They also ran a set of Softs, while Lando Norris performed a scrub-in lap on a set of C4s. Drivers from Alpine, Haas, and Sauber exclusively used the C6, while the rest of the field split their running between Soft and Medium compounds.

Qualifying brought plenty of drama. Q1 saw two red flags, one for Yuki Tsunoda and another for Franco Colapinto. The biggest shock came in Q2, as both Ferraris and local hero Kimi Antonelli were eliminated, failing to reach Q3.

In a dramatic and thrilling Q3, Oscar Piastri snatched pole position for the Made in Italy e dell’Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. On his final run, the McLaren driver edged out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just 34 thousandths of a second. This was Piastri’s third career pole, following his successes in Shanghai and Sakhir earlier this season. McLaren now has 168 pole positions in total, ten of them earned at Imola’s Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Lining up on the second row are George Russell in the Mercedes (1:14.807) and Lando Norris (1:14.962) in the other McLaren. These four were the only drivers to dip below the 1’15” mark.

SUNDAY

Unless a new deal is signed, this may have been Imola’s last Grand Prix for the foreseeable future, as its contract has yet to be renewed. As for the race itself, it had everything: high-skill overtakes, drama, and a touch of controversy.

The Grand Prix was interrupted twice, first by a Virtual Safety Car when Esteban Ocon parked his Haas with an engine failure, and later by a full Safety Car after Kimi Antonelli stopped his Mercedes in almost the same spot.

Max Verstappen added yet another gem to his already stellar career. The four-time world champion claimed a brilliant victory—his fourth consecutive win at Imola, a feat no other driver has achieved at the circuit. It marked Verstappen’s 65th career win and was the perfect way for Red Bull Racing to celebrate its 400th Grand Prix. Max also recorded the team’s 100th fastest lap in a race.

Joining him on the podium were the McLaren duo: Lando Norris in second and pole-sitter Oscar Piastri in third.