Formula 1 News: GP of Emilia Romagna post-race quotes

All ten Formula 1 Teams plus tire supplier Pirelli provided quotes after the 2025 GP of Emilia Romagna at Imola won by Max Verstappen.

Verstappen added another gem to his already extensive collection. The four-time world champion took a brilliant win, his fourth in a row in Imola, something no other driver has managed at this track. The Dutchman’s 65th win was the ideal way for his Red Bull Racing team to celebrate its 400th Grand Prix, to which Max also added the team’s 100th fastest race lap.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen, 1st

“To have the win here is fantastic. The start wasn’t the best but I can say turn two was good! Once we got into the lead I think we showed what we could do with the pace of the car and I could push quite nicely. The race was a lot more promising than what I expected, which was really good for us, and the car felt a lot more stable. We have clearly made a step forward with the set up of the car. I looked after my tires quite well and it felt really good on both of the compounds. It took a while for the car to be cleared during the VSC but we were able to pit which was good. It was a bit of a reset and I could also pull away as Oscar had used tires. I am really happy with this result and from the Team’s side we did everything well: good strategy, good pit stops and really calm communication everywhere, which is what you need in a successful race. It was a big weekend for us and good to see that the upgrades worked on the car. Big thank you to everyone here and at the factory for this, this makes our 400th race even more special. Hopefully we can extract what we learnt here today a bit more often. It has been a really positive weekend for us and we will keep on going, keep trying to be better and of course enjoy it a bit tonight!”

Yuki Tsunoda, 10th

“A tough weekend. A massive effort by the mechanics to get my car ready after yesterday, and I am glad that I was able to give back to the Team and thank them for the work they did, even if it was just one point. It’s small, but at least it is something for the Team. I am still frustrated from yesterday, but I shook it off and I gave it my all today to be in the top 10 after starting in the pit lane. We’ve made a step this weekend and the Qualifying setup was a big change, but we didn’t change much setup from yesterday and it was good to have more time to learn and experience the car in the race. I tried to keep the McLaren behind for longer today but they had more grip with fresher tires. The safety cars also created some interesting situations. I still have more to adapt to in the car, and my focus is now on Qualifying in Monaco and getting results in the next few races. And of course, a massive massive job and congrats to Max on the win and the whole Team on the result today.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal

“What a win for Max in Imola! The perfect way to celebrate our 400th race and claim our fourth consecutive victory here. It was an impressive all round performance. Max delivered a sensational move at turn one to take the lead, followed by some strong work in the pit lane from the Team at the opportune moment to deliver a clinical victory. It was also a strong drive for Yuki who got into the points from the pit lane after the Team did a great job to rebuild his car overnight after Qualifying. A great 400th race for the Team which gives us something to build on into Monaco next week!”

McLaren

Oscar Piastri, 3rd

“A double podium is a good result for the team. On my side, it’s always a bit disappointing to start on Pole and then not win the race, but we didn’t quite have the pace, and Max was quick. When we made the call to pit early, the two-stop strategy seemed to make the most sense as the tires didn’t have the pace, but we weren’t able to then maximize it after, and were then unlucky with the VSC and Safety Car. A few things to review, but we’ve got a solid chunk of points. We’ll debrief and then turn our attention to Monaco.”

Lando Norris, 2nd

“A good race – I’m really pleased with the P2 finish. It wasn’t easy to overtake but we did what we could. Max was quick, of course we would have loved to be there fighting him, but they had a bit more pace than we did. Oscar and I had a fun battle, but we raced each other well and maximized what we could. For us as a team, second and third is great. We go again next week.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“We leave Imola with a good haul of points as a team. Coming into the weekend, we knew the track layout and the ambient conditions would make this a much closer race, but we were a little surprised by how strong the Red Bull was today – congratulations to Max.

“The race was decided on the first lap with Max’s overtake on Oscar. From there, we tried to unlock various scenarios to re-take the lead. Lando was able to maximize the stint on the Medium and drove a very good race. With Oscar, we deviated to a two-stop strategy. Had the Hard tires behaved just a little bit better, this would have been a strong strategy, but that’s something we have to judge with hindsight. Going for victory always involves some risk, and sometimes when you take a risk, there’s a downside. He made some great overtakes to respond to the various factors in the race. The drivers battled cleanly and fairly, ultimately culminating in a double podium for the team.

“The team have worked hard this weekend, produced two reliable cars and put us on Pole position. Overall, it was a positive weekend for McLaren, and we look forward to the next race in Monaco.”

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc, 6th

“In some races, things just don’t align and today, that was the case for me. We were really unlucky with the timing of the VCS and SC. I couldn’t take advantage of the first one, and during the second, we didn’t have the right tires available, but I’ve got no regrets on this score. P6 is not that bad considering how difficult a weekend it has been for us, but this is not the result we are aiming for. Our real focus has to be on improving our qualifying performance, because in the race, the car is fast. Heading to Monaco now, we expect it to be a challenging weekend. It’s a circuit that will expose our car’s weaknesses. It is very specific and you have to run the car differently than anywhere else, so I hope we will capitalize on that and bring home the best result possible.”

Lewis Hamilton, 4th

“Today I felt much more at one with the car, something I’d been chasing since the Sprint in China. Everything came together: the strategy, the pit stops, the balance, it all worked in harmony and allowed us to recover strongly from our qualifying position.

“There’s still work to do, especially over one lap, but if we can keep building on days like this, we’ll be in the mix for podiums. Grazie mille tifosi: your support means the world and I hope we made you proud today.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

“The positive side of today was that our pace was strong from start to finish. We had a good strategy and the pit stops were well executed. Of course, there is some frustration because if we had qualified better, we could have finished higher up the order. It’s been three or four races now where we have seen this difference between quali and race pace. We must work on that, but I believe that today’s result was the best we could hope for. Lewis drove a very solid race, always running at a strong pace, pulling off some nice overtakes. As for Charles, the Virtual and real Safety Cars did him no favors and I can understand his frustration. But at the time the Safety Car came out, there were still too many laps to go to fit the Softs and I think leaving him out on the Hards was the right decision. In the closing stages, we asked Charles to give back position to Alex Albon, because it was very close and if he had been given a penalty, we would have lost four or five places.”

Williams

Alex Albon, 5th

“I’m very happy. P4 was possible today if the Safety Car didn’t come out at the end or if you take away the Charles incident, but I’m not going to say I’m disappointed with P5! When I look at the battle with Charles, I would probably have done the same; it wasn’t that crazy, he was just trying to hold his position, but then I lost out to Lewis. Maybe I could have been a bit more patient with my overtake of Charles, but at that point in the race I was feeling so good that I was thinking: ‘Oscar is up ahead on worn tires, maybe I could go after him!’

“I’m still very happy with the race; on pure pace we were running P4, P5, so we were able to extend the first stint and that set us up for the whole race. The consistent pace we’re showing opens up the window for what else we can do, so let’s keep going and enjoying it.”

Carlos Sainz, 8th

“Obviously I’m disappointed right now after another weekend where we had good pace and I felt really good all weekend, but for one reason or the other, we don’t seem to catch a break on Sundays. It hurts to miss a top five finish on a day that we were quicker than Mercedes and Ferrari. In hindsight, stopping early and then the VSC compromised our result. We need to keep making steps forward on communicating better during the race and I know better days will come, I have no doubt about it. We keep pushing team! On to Monaco!”

James Vowles, Team Principal

“Really great result for the team today with another double points finish, and yet there is still some disappointment as there was more available to us. But we’ve been fast all year long and we are progressing relative to some giants; we were running on genuine merit up in a podium position. Alex executed an absolutely mega drive. I was on the edge of my seat watching him fighting against the Ferraris. He came off on the worst end, although he did get ahead of one of them by the end. I’m proud of what he’s achieved and how he raced today. It’s a shame with Carlos; it was a very tricky call in the beginning and we didn’t get it right, but it will be his day and we will get him up into the right positions – we win and lose together.”

Mercedes

George Russell, 7th

“Today was challenging and, obviously, P7 is not where we want to be. I struggled with the rear end of the car from the beginning and was not able to get into a good rhythm. With a relatively high track temperature, we were suffering from overheating on the rear axle. It was therefore tough to keep the tires in the right window and the pace reflected that. We couldn’t match the leaders’ pace, so it was very much damage limitation.

“We will take the learnings from this weekend and move quickly on to Monaco. I am looking forward to getting out on track there. We’ve been good and consistent in qualifying this season with strong single laps and this will help next week. Monaco is one of these races where a lot depends on Saturday and I am confident in how we can perform there.”

Kimi Antonelli, DNF

“Today was a disappointing way to end my first home Grand Prix. You never want to have a DNF but for it to come here at Imola is even more bitter. That said, I will treasure the memory of this weekend. The support from the fans has been incredible. They kept cheering for me each and every lap, despite the struggles with our performance.

“Sadly, we just didn’t have the pace to fight for the top five today. I made a good start despite being on the Hard compound, but the speed in the car wasn’t there to move forward after that. I defended really hard in that first stint and managed to keep Lewis (Hamilton) behind me. We took advantage of the Virtual Safety Car to make our stop but after that, I started to have an issue with the throttle. I started to lose power on the straights and every lap it was getting worse before we had to retire the car. We have the opportunity to bounce back straight away in Monaco so we will take the learnings from here and apply them to next weekend.”

Bradley Lord, Team Representative

“That was comfortably our most difficult Grand Prix of the season so far. To come away with P7 and a DNF is far below the standards we set ourselves as a team.

“From the early laps, George reported a lack of rear stability, and he struggled to keep the rear tire temperatures under control, which led to accelerated degradation. This forced us into an early stop, and onto a two-stop strategy. He made his second stop under the VSC for Esteban’s retirement, and had battled his way back into the points when the Safety Car was called out for Kimi’s DNF. It was clear that we would remain on track during this, and George then battled hard to the flag – he was unable to hold off Lewis’s fresher-tired Ferrari behind but then was able to hold position to the finish.

“For Kimi, we ran an offset strategy, starting on the hard tire and making up a position at the start. He was running solidly when we took advantage of the VSC to swap to the Medium tire and tried to take this to the finish. Kimi managed the stint well but then began to suffer a degrading throttle problem, which ultimately stopped the car on lap 45 – the first retirement of his F1 career.

“Overall, the performance picture was a sobering one today: while George qualified strongly, we were unable to race the cars around us and suffered a significant pace limitation from tire overheating on the rear axle. The primary focus of work in the days ahead to understand why we suffered so badly, and then to make the most of the opportunity we have to bounce back next weekend in Monaco.”

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

“Today was a difficult day for the team and drivers. We were not quick enough to challenge at the front and, to make matters worse, suffered a reliability failure

“We’re working to understand the issues on Kimi’s car, but the throttle pedal was gradually deteriorating and eventually the system switched off for safety. That problem is unlikely to be too challenging to solve in time for Monaco thankfully.

“Our bigger concern is around the pace. It’s been another hot race, and we were giving the rear tires too much of a hard time. We therefore suffered from poor grip and degradation throughout. We’ve got to get on top of that quickly as there are a lot of hot races coming up and we can’t continue to perform at this level. We’ve got a few days to regroup before Monaco, but we’ll be working hard to try and improve from here.”

Racing Bulls

Isack Hadjar, 9th

“It was a good weekend here in Imola and I’m happy with my performance. I had a difficult start to the race and lost two places; that definitely didn’t help us, and I know I’ll need to work on that to improve it. The pace was strong and I’m really satisfied with the job of tire management we did throughout the race. There was a point in the race where we were P7 and I thought we were bringing it home, but unfortunately, it was just a shame for us when the safety car came out, so we’ll review everything with the team to understand if we could have done something differently. It feels good getting a couple of points; I’m proud of the team as they did a really good job. Looking at next week, I think that racing in Monaco as a rookie is going to be impressive and very hard, but I’m really excited and I can’t wait to drive an F1 car there for the first time.”

Liam Lawson, 14th

“Pretty disappointed for everybody, we just got caught by safety cars today. We had good potential and had pace all weekend but unfortunately we weren’t able to show it and that’s what put us down the back. It’s been a difficult weekend but I’ll keep working hard to turn it around. We are always learning with the car, every weekend I’m getting more used to it, we are heading in the right direction. Monaco is an iconic track and it is my first time, I’m excited to get there; it is very special and will be one to get up to speed with quite quickly. I’m looking forward to going there and getting right back into it.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“After travelling the world for the past three months, it’s been an enjoyable experience to return to Europe and our home race. Thanks for a great job by everyone back in Faenza and Milton Keynes; we ran a few upgrades across both cars, and with the factory just a short distance away, a large number of staff were able to come to the track, with seats in our own dedicated grandstand to see the result of all their hard work. It’s encouraging to see that the changes to the car delivered the pace to put us in the fight in the sharp end of the midfield. Although Isack and Liam know Imola well, neither had raced an F1 car here before and the narrow track, tricky curbs and waiting gravel traps present a real challenge. Plus, all the drivers had to deal with the unknown of Pirelli’s softest C6 tire. Overall, the performance this weekend was strong, both in Qualifying and in the race, with P9 in both cases for Isack. He drove a brilliant race today, being one of the cars able to manage to go for a near optimum one stop. The first safety car helped us a bit whilst the second one was a bit of a dilemma, as we decided to fit another set of fresh tires, but got stuck in a DRS train behind Sainz and Russell. We will take the two points and keep working hard as a Team to keep improving in every area, as we have been doing for the past year. Liam’s weekend certainly looked more difficult overall, but we can see that his speed is there in the data, and again today he was particularly unlucky with the safety cars timing. We now head straight to Monaco, a very different type of track, but the lessons learned here will still prove useful, especially as regards to Qualifying, often the key moment on the streets of Monte Carlo.”

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso, 11th

“The car was very strong today and I was having a good race until the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) turned our race upside down. I think without this VSC we could have been fighting for P6 or P7 and scored points on merit. At the restart we were out of the points but managed to overtake three cars in nine laps and we just ran out of time. It’s a real shame but let’s hope for better luck in future races.”

Lance Stroll, 15th

“The start of the race felt okay: I managed to pull away from Gasly and hold onto Albon in front of me. Unfortunately, with the Virtual Safety Car phase and the way the race unfolded, it didn’t play out well for us today. Without the Virtual Safety Car, we might have been able to finish in the points so bad luck and a disappointing result. We now need to look to Monaco next week and see if we can continue to show signs of positive improvements with the update as it’s a very different track.”

Andy Cowell, Team Principal

“We came within a whisker of scoring points, but the racing luck was not on our side today. A promising one-stop strategy was undone by the timing of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) which dropped both Fernando and Lance outside the points. With hindsight, we could have pitted again under the VSC, but we did not want to sacrifice track position. We then struggled to hold off those cars with a tire advantage.

“Nonetheless, we take away the positives from a weekend where we have seen genuine progress. The updates have added some performance and given us direction for the upcoming events. Credit to the drivers, too, who did not put a wheel out of place this weekend. It’s onwards to Monaco now which is a very different challenge.”

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg, 12th

“This was one of the better races for me this year. We’ve been more competitive compared to other weekends and I had a better feeling in the car today compared to Friday and Saturday. In the race, we were lucky with the timing of the virtual safety car which put us in a position to fight for points. Unfortunately, the safety car towards the end of the race was of no help for us. At the restart I was surrounded by faster cars, and I was unable to keep Yuki (Tsunoda) or Fernando (Alonso) – on fresher tires – behind me. In the end, everything combined to prevent us from scoring points. On pure pace, we still have some catching up to do, but the margins are so tight that small improvements can make a big difference.“

Gabriel Bortoleto, 18th

“It wasn’t the easiest race for me today. As a positive, our pace was good, especially on hard tires, and I was glad to see that. The first stint was going well, but the Virtual Safety Car unfortunately came at the wrong time for us and cost us a lot of momentum. From that point on, it was difficult to make the most of any opportunities that came our way. It’s obviously frustrating, because we pretty much were in the wrong place at the wrong time for most of the race. Still, I am happy about this small improvement in terms of pace, even though the results don’t show that. Now, it’s time to analyze and understand where we could have done better and go for the next one in Monaco next week.”

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal

“Ultimately mixed emotions coming out of the race. At one point after the safety car came in, it looked like Nico could score some points. But keeping a Red Bull behind you is difficult and then the balance dropped away and ultimately Nico finished P12. Gabi started P14 and we had high hopes for the race. Unfortunately, we were late to react to tire degradation and had to convert to a two-stop strategy, a decision we paid the price for until the end of the race. We were further impacted by the decision to try the mediums after the safety car, but that tire proved not up to the job, and we lost track position as a result, with Gabi eventually finishing P18. We need to take a careful look at our internal processes and apply lessons learned quickly as we head to Monaco and then Barcelona.”

Alpine

Pierre Gasly, 13th

“Personally, I am not happy with my race because I made a costly mistake and I know that should not happen. I had a good start, up to ninth place and then had to fight hard with Charles [Leclerc]. I thought I could make the corner at Turn 9 by going a bit wider with Charles coming up the inside. I turned in, had no grip, did not make the corner and it cost me five positions. We decided to do the two-stop, which was looking decent and we were probably going to be in a fight with the one-stoppers towards the end of the race. The late Safety Car gave those ahead a free pit-stop and we did not have enough tire life to go towards the points in the end. Overall, we showed some good pace throughout the weekend. I felt happy with the car over one lap. We know next week [in Monaco] how important Qualifying is and hopefully we can capitalize on some of our strengths.”

Franco Colapinto, 16th

“We had pretty good pace today but we were a little unfortunate with our strategy and, in the end, it was not the result the team was aiming to achieve. I think we had pretty good pace at the start of the race. The Medium tire lasted very long and we were on a one-stop until the VSC came a few laps after I made my stop. It put me in a very difficult situation already with eight laps on the Hard tires when the full Safety Car came out and after that I was struggling to keep the pace with the other drivers on new tires. We had good pace in the car and we learnt a lot and gathered more valuable data for the team. I think better tracks are coming for us, especially Monaco. It is a place which requires very high confidence. I’m not quite there yet, I’m still learning more and more each time I am in the car so I’ll build it up and I’m looking forward to it next weekend.”

Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor

“We were set for a good result today and had a chance for points before the Virtual Safety Car. Particularly with Franco we were planning on a one-stop strategy to the end and with the field being neutralized others were essentially given a free pit-stop. This happens in racing, and the final standings do not reflect where we could have been today. Next, we go to Monaco, one of my home races and a track where we can again have an opportunity to compete.”

Haas

Esteban Ocon, DNF

“We had an air consumption issue, so I had to stop the car at the exit of Turn 7. It will be investigated but it wasn’t ever going to be a great race to be fair, so plenty for us to review from this weekend and hopefully we can come back stronger in Monaco. I had a really good race start and made a few positions, and we boxed to try something different – and were ahead of quite a few cars at that point – but unfortunately degradation was a lot higher for me, which was unexpected.”

Oliver Bearman, 17th

“Honestly it wasn’t a bad race at all but unfortunately, I had a problem in my pit stop. We were in a really good position going for a one-stop race so when the VSC came out, we switched onto the medium tire, and I was coming out behind Russell and he was P7, so we were on for a good race, but my wheel wasn’t attached properly in the pit stop. The pace was good, the car felt good all weekend. There’s been quite a few points we need to brush up on, yesterday was completely out of our hands, but we have a bit of work to do to put things together.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“Obviously it was a very tough day. Starting from P18 and P19, we had to try something different. We did that with Esteban by pitting him on lap one – it nearly worked, but in the end he had a PU issue and he had to retire. On Ollie’s side – he had pace. He spent most of his first stint behind the traffic with Colapinto, but as soon as Colapinto pitted, Ollie’s pace was really good – so we were going for a one-stop then. We pitted under the virtual safety car, but then we had an issue with the pit stop and that killed his race. But again, after the safety car cleared, Ollie’s pace on his last stint was amazing – it was really good. Even after the last safety car, his pace was very strong on an old set of hard tires. The positive is that the car had pace to score points. It’s another missed opportunity though, that’s the negative. We need to put this right.”

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“An exciting incident-packed race brought a very busy weekend to a close, which for us featured the outright debut of the new C6 compound. Now, it will be important to analyse all the data from these three days thoroughly, as it should provide useful insights for coming races, especially in terms of tire compound allocation for races in the second half of the season.

“What we can say right now is that the decision to go with a trio of compounds one step softer than last year proved to be the right one. If we look at the first part of the race, as the second was affected by neutralisations, we saw that in a situation where all the drivers were managing their pace in the opening stint, it only required one of them to make an unexpected move – in this case Leclerc pitting early on lap 10 – to trigger changes in strategy. Some chose to extend the first stint as much as possible, obviously going for a one-stop race, while others realised that the Ferrari driver’s undercut worked very well and were forced to react. In fact, on fresh tires and with a clear track ahead of him, Leclerc made up a lot of places.

“Of course, what happened in the second part of the race makes it hard to know for certain to what extent such an early pit stop would have paid off, or if the move would have forced those who did so into switching to a two-stop strategy. It means that, in general, the decision to go with softer tires still opened the door to more choices, both in terms of the number of stops and the length of the stints.”