Max Verstappen Sends It, Wins Imola, and Reminds Everyone He’s Still Very Much Max Verstappen

IMOLA, ITALY – MAY 18: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 leads Oscar Piastri of Australia driving the (81) McLaren MCL39 Mercedes George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W16 Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL39 Mercedes and the rest of the field at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on May 18, 2025 in Imola, Italy. (Photo by Lars Baron/LAT Images)

If Max Verstappen’s performance at Imola had been any cooler, the Red Bull garage would’ve needed snow tires.

The Dutchman took his fourth straight win at the track by doing what Verstappen does best: ignoring logic, gravity, and occasionally his own brakes. At lights out, Oscar Piastri got the jump and looked poised to lead into Tamburello. But Max had other ideas. He saw a sliver of space on the outside and, in his own words, decided, “Well, I’m just going to try and send it around the outside.” That’s not strategy. That’s defiance with downforce. And it worked.

With that one decisive move, Verstappen took the lead and didn’t just manage the race—he owned it like it came with a deed. Not even a safety car could derail him, although it tried. Twice.

Behind him, McLaren spent the day figuring out the strategic equivalent of texting your ex at 2 a.m.—full of hope, doomed from the start. Lando Norris eventually clawed past teammate Piastri in the closing laps to take second place, but by then Verstappen was halfway to Bologna and already chilling his champagne.

Oscar, to his credit, admitted the move stung. “I just braked too early,” he said. “It was a good move by Max as well.” Translation: I blinked, and now he’s gone.

The opening phase looked like a proper fight—Piastri nailing the launch, George Russell behaving like he had a real Mercedes underneath him, and Charles Leclerc showing signs of Ferrari optimism (which, if you’ve watched Ferrari lately, is the most dangerous emotion in motorsport).

Leclerc, to his credit, mugged Pierre Gasly with a slick move and began the long, uphill march to Ferrari relevance. Meanwhile, Russell tried to hold off Norris but eventually gave way, much like most Mercedes race strategies.

Piastri tried the undercut, and McLaren brought him in early. The idea was solid; the execution was not. A slow stop dropped him like a rock down to P12. Verstappen, unfazed, stayed out longer than most people keep their New Year’s resolutions and still came out ahead. “That of course then unleashed our pace,” he said, probably while sipping espresso and casually dominating a Grand Prix.

Things got spicy on lap 29 when Esteban Ocon’s Haas gave up just after Tosa. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed and triggered a frenzied pit lane stampede. Verstappen pitted, came out 20 seconds clear, and probably started wondering where everyone went.

Then came the full Safety Car on lap 46 when Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes decided it had done enough for the day. Verstappen pitted again, as did Norris, while Piastri rolled the dice and stayed out. Briefly, he was in second. Then, physics caught up.

When the race restarted on lap 53, Verstappen did what Verstappen does—he disappeared. Behind him, Norris leaned into those fresher tires and bullied his way past Piastri for second. The Dutchman? Gone. The only thing he didn’t do was turn the car off mid-race just to keep things interesting.

By the time the checkered flag dropped, it was Max on top, Norris second, and Piastri salvaging third. Lewis Hamilton quietly snuck into fourth like a man late to a dinner party who still ends up with the best steak. Alex Albon put in a hero shift to take fifth for Williams—yes, that Williams—while Leclerc’s gamble on old tires backfired and left him in sixth, probably wondering why Ferrari strategies are designed using darts and a blindfold.

As for Verstappen, he summed it up like a man who showed up, saw the chaos, and left with a trophy.

“The start itself wasn’t particularly great… but once we were in the lead, the car was good. I could look after my tires and we had very good pace today.”

Piastri, meanwhile, looked like a guy who was just handed a bag of marbles and asked to build a Swiss watch: “It’s disappointing obviously… Not our best Sunday.” No, Oscar, it wasn’t. But at least you didn’t crash. Small victories.

Verstappen didn’t just win. He dominated. Again. Red Bull celebrated their 400th race in F1 with yet another textbook performance. And as the rest of the grid figures out how to catch Max, he’s out there proving that sometimes the best strategy is simply to send it.

IMOLA, ITALY – MAY 18: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates on arrival in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on May 18, 2025 in Imola, Italy. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

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Greg Engle

Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community.

Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.

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