Red Bull mark 400th Grand Prix with Verstappen victory in Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

Red Bull celebrated their 400th F1 grand prix with victory as Max Verstappen won the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola in Italy.

The Dutch driver swiped the lead off pole sitter Oscar Piastri on lap one and duly dominated proceedings, stretching out a large advantage over the rest of the field and then rebuilding a comfortable advantage after a late safety car.

Victory from second was Verstappen’s fourth in a row at Imola, and Verstappen’s second of 2025 after he won the Japanese Grand Prix last month.

Meanwhile, teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished 10th, holding off Fernando Alonso to take the final point. The Japanese driver had to start from the pit lane after all-but destroying the car in a major crash in qualifying the day before, but was able to hold out to take a point, as he had at Miami last time out.

The results sees Verstappen maintain his status as the biggest threat to the championship-leading McLarens. In the Driver’s Championship, the Dutchman sits on 124 points, placing him 9 behind Lando Norris and 22 points behind championship leader Piastri.

Tsunoda has 10 points, sitting 12th in the standings. Meanwhile, in the Constructor’s championship, Red Bull remain third but close the gap to second place Mercedes to 16 points after the Milton Keynes-based team outscored their Brackley-based rivals. They sit 148 behind leaders McLaren.

Red Bull began the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix with two cars at either end of the field. Verstappen started second after narrowly missing out on pole to Piastri, while Tsunoda had to start in the pits in effectively a new car after the Japanese driver’s dramatic barrel roll crash in qualifying before he set a lap time.

On lap one, Verstappen had initially got a slower start and was at risk of being passed by the Mercedes of George Russell. But as the field approached the first breaking zone into the Tamburello chicane, Verstappen ended up launching a move and pulling it off, getting ahead of Piastri into the lead.

From there, Verstappen’s day was one of dominance. He was able to break the DRS gap quickly enough and was able to stretch out a lead until Piastri pit. From there, Verstappen ran long until a virtual safety car was deployed for a breakdown of Esteban Ocon’s Haas on lap 29, by which point Verstappen was 40 seconds clear of everyone else.

Things then changed again on lap 46, however, when Andrea Kimi Antonelli saw a loss of power in his Mercedes, which was treated with the full safety car. But after 7 laps behind the safety car, Verstappen was able to manage pace again. He bolted away on the restart and would eventually open up a lead of just over 6 seconds to runner-up Norris, who passed Piastri just after the restart.

As for Tsunoda, Red Bull kept him out long as well, with his fight ultimately being over the lower points positions. Eventually, a move on Nico Hulkenberg just after the Antonelli safety car combined with defensive moves to stay ahead of Alonso, who also passed Hulkenberg’s Sauber, did the trick for Tsunoda to take the final points position.

Red Bull will look to make it back-to-back wins for the first time in 2025 when F1 heads for the second part of a European triple header, with the field heading to the Monaco Grand Prix next weekend.