How Verstappen Beat Piastri in 2025 F1 Imola GP

Max Verstappen won the 2025 F1 Imola GP from P2. 

The defending world champion overtook the current championship leader, Oscar Piastri, around the outside at the Tamburello corner. This was revenge for what Oscar did to Verstappen in the 2025 F1 Saudi Arabian GP, where the former won from P2.

With this victory, the Dutch champion is now the second driver to score multiple victories in the 2025 season so far. Additionally, he interrupted the Australians’ run of victories.

In this article, let’s look at the reasons that led to the stunning overtaking move and a dominant victory.

1. Went for the gap that existed

Piastri, despite having a great start, was too focused on George Russell. At a certain point after the race start, Verstappen was effectively P3. The Mercedes driver was nose-to-tail with the McLaren and was keen on making a position at the start.

Max is P3 right after the race start in 2025 F1 Imola GP

Consequently, Oscar decided to cover up the inside entirely, which put him on a sub-optimal racing line and opened up a gap around the outside.

As you already know, the four-time F1 world champion doesn’t need a second invitation. Thanks to masterful late-braking, the sim-racer was alongside the championship leader at Tamburello’s entry.

By the time the Australian figured it out, it was too late, and he was no longer the race leader.

Max overtakes Oscar at Tamburello in 2025 F1 Imola GP

This was quite sloppy from Oscar, considering he knows how opportunistic Verstappen is in title fights, especially when going into the first corner. Furthermore, he was in a similar position in Jeddah, where he emerged victorious.

Another interesting example comes from the 2021 F1 Imola GP, where Lewis Hamilton attempted to overtake Max around the outside of the same corner. The Dutchman simply took a wider entry and ran Lewis off the track, protecting his lead.

Despite knowing all this, Piastri fumbled the race start and lost the win.

2. Managed pace like a wizard

The standard deviation in pace, particularly in the first stint for Max Verstappen, is phenomenal. 

Standard deviation of pace in increasing order from 2025 F1 Imola GP

Additionally, the delta per lap is zero. If you compare the same data points against Piastri, there is a lot of difference.

Oscar’s standard deviation is almost seven hundredths of a second higher than Max's. Granted, that he was in the dirty air, but he could’ve dropped a couple of seconds behind and just maintained pace to make a potential undercut work.

Moreover, if you consider how quick the McLarens were in dirty air, you can immediately realize that they had the most dominant racecar. In the post-race interviews, the Papaya drivers complained about the pace deficit, which I think is garbage.

This brings us to the next point.

3. McLaren’s dumb strategy

It seems that the Woking outfit hasn’t learned anything from their 2024 F1 campaign and the 2025 F1 Japanese Grand Prix regarding race strategy. This was the second time in this season when they lost a 2v1 against Max Verstappen in a quite comical way.

The logical approach would’ve been to advise Oscar to either keep the pressure on to ensure Max ruins his tires, which would’ve given Norris a chance to make a move on the Dutchman.

Another way forward would’ve been to tell the championship leader to drop a few seconds, while still remaining in the undercut zone, and maintain the same pace as the race leader.

Instead, the Papaya-clad morons decided to pit him into traffic.

As if that wasn’t enough, all of the pit stops executed by McLaren were slower than most F1 pit stops in this day and age. The Australian was stationary for a second longer than his Dutch rival in each of the pit stops, amplifying his sufferings further.

The first poorly-timed and executed stop ruined Oscar’s chances of making ground on Verstappen, and he spent up the fresh rubber overtaking the midfield cars.

Pit stop strategies of drivers in 2025 F1 Imola GP

Then, when the VSC was released due to Ocon’s retirement, he was forced to pit again for a much longer second stint. This cost Piastri another position, this time to his own teammate, Lando Norris.

On the other hand, Verstappen pitted perfectly throughout the race. Both of his stops occurred during the VSC and SC, enabling him to save massive amounts of time and securing the win.

Wrapping up: Piastri needs to learn

Yes, Oscar made some mistakes, and unfortunately, that’s how you learn some crucial lessons in the motorsports game. The hard way. He learned that covering Max is critical than any other driver, especially if they are in a noticeably slower car.

He must’ve also realized the importance of dropping a few seconds and maintaining pace over pitting for fresh rubber and coming out into traffic.

Of course, it is critical that McLaren also capture these lessons. For instance, at the second safety car restart, Oscar could’ve let Lando go after Max. If Norris failed, he could’ve asked the team to swap the cars again!

These types of 4D chess moves come with experience, which comes after tough lessons.

Fortunately, for us, the F1 fans, the championship fight is shaping up well. It’d be quite entertaining to see Max vs Oscar vs Lando for the 2025 F1 Driver’s title. Hopefully, they crash soon in the future, giving us some much-needed drama.

Until next time,

Tara