How Red Bull’s pace stunned both McLaren and Max Verstappen at Imola

McLaren have admitted Red Bull’s pace advantage at the F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix took the team by surprise.

Max Verstappen was narrowly beaten to pole position by Oscar Piastri but grabbed the lead from the McLaren driver with a spectacular around-the-outside overtake at the first corner, before sealing a dominant win.

The four-time world champion was aided by the fortunate timing of two Safety Car periods which fell in his favour, but he also had superior pace in his Red Bull that enabled him to easily pull clear of the McLarens and seal his second victory of the season.

And McLaren, who have won the other five races in 2025, did not see Verstappen’s dominance coming.

“After coming from a race like Miami, in which our pace was very strong, we knew that because of the track layout and the slightly different ambient conditions, this race would have been just more balanced from a race pace point of view,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said.

“We knew that it would have been very balanced in qualifying like already we have seen in Saudi, in Japan, in these kind of fast-flowing circuits. But I have to say today we were a little surprised, I think I have to be honest here, by the pace of Red Bull which was very competitive.

“Well done to Max, well done to Red Bull, for being able to pull off this kind of performance, which meant that the race was very much decided by the episode, or just a swap of position between Oscar and Max in corner one.

“After that we tried to chase him but effectively we didn’t have enough race pace today to be able to beat Max [after] taking the lead after lap one.”

Stella pinpointed two key factors for Red Bull’s impressive competitiveness in Sunday’s grand prix at Imola.

“I think what’s happening today is a combination of Red Bull, I think they have improved. They’ve been developing their car over the last couple of races and I think they have taken a step forward,” he explained.

“And then if we look at the speed of the corners and we compare with the speed in Miami, it’s a completely different regime. The car operates in a completely different part of the aerodynamic maps.

“And I think we know that our car is strong in track layouts like Miami or Bahrain or China, but when it comes to high-speed corners like we have here in Imola, I don’t think we enjoy any particular advantage.

“So the track layout, the progress of Red Bull, I think they are the two factors that meant that we didn’t have much advantage today.”

Lando Norris, who finished second to cut teammate Piastri’s championship lead down to 13 points, believes McLaren’s lack of pace compared with Verstappen “shows how quickly things can change”.

"Oscar put in a very good lap to get pole, [but] on average Max was quicker and it just turned out that this track, with the degradation of this track, therefore suited them," he said.

"We had a bit more rear degradation rather than overheating and things like that, it was more just rear deg and that seems to be where the Red Bull is still very, very strong in these slow speed corners.

“We know that, we've said it the whole year. We aren't getting complacent because we know how good they can be at times when things click and when they get it right, they're ahead, and that's the way it was today.

"We just have to keep working, nothing more to say than that. We need to keep our heads down, working on ourselves and keep doing what we're doing."

Red Bull’s pace advantage took Verstappen by surprise

Verstappen is now just 22 points behind Piastri in the championship after ending the Australian’s run of three consecutive victories.

The Dutchman admitted he did not expect Red Bull to be so strong, especially after starting the weekend on the back foot with a difficult Friday.

“We still had to show that we had the pace and luckily the car felt a lot more together and I could push quite nicely,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.

“That made me look after the tyres quite well, for once. That was a lot more how I would like. For me it was a bit unexpected that we had this kind of pace today.”

He added: ”It's very track specific. I mean, every time that we have been really competitive, it's been high-speed tracks, high-speed corners. We still have work to do, but I do think it's been a very positive weekend for us.

"Friday was very difficult still, but then I think we found a better set-up for Saturday. And I just hope that we can use that a bit more often because it definitely brought the car in a better window."