Do not drive the fastest car, still participate for the title: Max Verstappen is in the boss in Imola

One bend needed Max Verstappen in the Italian Imola on Sunday to show why he in 24th place is in the list of best paid athletes in the world.

Started from the second place, behind World Championship leader Oscar Piastri (McLaren), the Red Bull driver got out of place. He only seemed to be in the first turning combination as a third – until he simply braked a few meters later than the others and Piastri Buitenom passed. From start to finish a risky but perfectly estimated action.

And also a decisive one. Because anyone who rides in the hills of Emilia-Romagna on the tight circuit is difficult to catch up. Whatever happened: Verstappen won the race convincingly, his second victory of the season, before Lando Norris (McLaren) and Piastri.

For example, Verstappen once again kept the chance that the hundreds of millions of euros that Red Bull spends on Formula 1 will also result in a world title this year.

Ingenious rear braking

In that respect, the overall image of the Racing Weekend in Imola is hopeful for Verstappen and his team, who got it very much from the McLarens in Miami two weeks ago. On Saturday he said Against journalists on the spot That he had not felt so well in his RB21, which was provided with a few improved parts this weekend – parts that, according to Verstappen, did their work well.

And that was after the qualification, in which Verstappen is well daring throughout the season, and even now only with a tiny difference behind Piastri ended. The races were more difficult so far. In it, the McLaren drivers can benefit from being less likely to sell their rear tires, partly thanks to the ingeniously designed air cooling of the rear brakes. But where the difference in Miami had been a second per round, the stopwatch indicated almost the same lap times during the race this Sunday for Verstappen and the McLarens.

With that, Piastri and Norris would have had a big bone to catch up on Verstappen if they had driven right behind him – on the old, swinging Imola you should certainly be a second per round faster to catch up with someone.

Only: the McLaren duo did not ride just behind Verstappen. Because after his daring catching up in the first corner, Verstappen made no mistake, but it also fell exactly in his advantage of everything.

To start with, McLaren’s decision to catch up with Piastri after fourteen out of 63 laps for a tire change. The rubber on which he had left seemed to have had his best time, and moreover McLaren hoped that the Australian could immediately ride his new tires so fast that he would end up for Verstappen once it had completed his tire change.

That setup failed. Piastri ended up behind slower cars, and lost time while he caught up with them. And Verstappen did not go to the pits at all: other than Piastri, he was planning not to make two, but one pit stop. In the other McLaren, Norris had also opted for a one -stop strategy, but in the opening phase he had lost so much time to catch up with George Russell (Mercedes) that he was not a threat to Verstappen.

Once it was time for Verstappens Pitstop, he was again. The race management imposed a speed limit so that a stranded car could be removed, which gave Verstappen the opportunity to make his pit stop at a considerably less loss of time. While Norris had stopped just before neutralization. The result: Once back on the track, Verstappen was more than twenty seconds ahead.

Worn -out tires

In the final phase it threatened to be exciting for Verstappen, when the SafetyCar came on track and the McLarens came right behind him. But where Piastri (second) rode on worn tires, thanks to his lead, Verstappen was able to quickly have a new set of tires mounted without giving up the lead. So after the resumption he ran off rap, to cross the finish line with six seconds.

In the meantime, Verstappens teammate Yuki Tsunoda again proved that only Verstappen with the difficult -controlled Red Bull is capable of such performance. The Japanese crashed heavily in qualifying due to his own error, and drove anonymously to tenth place in the race. His fastest round in the race was no less than two seconds slower than that of Verstappen.

With almost one third of the season, Verstappen is still very involved in the title fight with Piastri and Norris thanks to his victory in Imola. 2025 can still be the year of what his best triumph so far would be: not driving the fastest car, and yet becoming champion.

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