Max Verstappen clinched his second victory of the Formula One 2025 season by emerging triumphant in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (GP), finishing ahead of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris (P2) and Oscar Piastri (P3) on Sunday.
Verstappen, who finished second in the qualiying behind Piastri, produced a stunning overtake in the first lap and maintained that dominance right until the very end. This is the Dutchman’s second GP win of the campaign, after having won the Japanese GP in April.
The Dutchman came back fresh from the two-week-long break and had a terrific qualifying session on Saturday. Despite finishing second, he hailed it as his best day of the year, as buoyancy was vivid in the Red Bull camp since they found themselves just two-tenths behind Piastri’s McLaren.
The four-time world champion was also helped by the fact that he took both of his pit stops when the safety car was in force, eroding the path for any other driver to overtake and gain an advantage over him in the meantime. Contrastingly, Piastri’s first pit stop cost him tremendous time, with the Australian league-leader falling as low as till the 11th spot for a brief while.Overall, Verstappen seemed pleased with the performance, praising his team after the race and appreciating the fact that the car improved over the week. It showed in Yuki Tsunoda grabbing the 10th place and finishing within points as well, after a horrific crash in qualifying that saw him finish this race at the last spot in the grid.Norris and Piastri had their own little fight going on towards the fag end of the race. With the latter’s tyres wearing out, Norris made an appeal to the team to instruct his teammate to let him pass, which was met with a deaf ear. The Brit took the onus on himself and delivered a sublime overtake as Piastri wore a disappointed look after conceding the advantage he held at the start of the race by starting from the pole position.
First Published: May 18, 2025 8:46 PM IST
