#Formula1 AWS #EmiliaRomagnaGP 2025 Preview.
Formula 1 MSC Cruises Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2024 Race Start, Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit, Imola, Italy. Image credit to Clive Rose/Getty Images. 2025 Imola GP Preview, Imola Grand Prix Preview, Emilia Romagna GP Preview, 2025 F1 Imola Preview.
2025 Imola GP Preview – After Oscar Piastri lead home a dominant McLaren one-two finish at the Miami GP where also his team-mate Lando Norris won a wet-and-wild Sprint race, round seven of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous and historic Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy for the Formula 1 AWS Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell’Emilia Romagna 2025. This will be the 33rd time the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari has hosted Formula 1 as part of the World Championship (28 times as the San Marino Grand Prix, five times as the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and once as the Italian Grand Prix). This will be the first of a triple header with the iconic Monaco Grand Prix and the Spanish GP. The second triple header of the 2025 campaign.
2025 Imola GP Preview – A look at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari
The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari is a permanent racing circuit near the town of Imola, 40 kilometres (24.9 miles) east of Bologna. It is one of the few International racing tracks that run in an anti-clockwise direction. The circuit is named after Ferrari’s late legendary founder, Enzo Ferrari, and his son, Alfredo (Dino) Ferrari, who died in 1956 at the age of 24.
The track was inaugurated as a semi-permanent circuit in 1953. It featured no chicanes, so the runs from Acque Minerali to Rivazza, and from Rivazza all the way to Tosa, through the pits and the Tamburello, were only straights with a few small bends; the circuit remained in this configuration until 1972.
In April 1953, the first motorcycle races took place at the venue, whilst the first car race at the track was held in June 1954. In April 1963, the circuit hosted it’s first Formula 1 event, as a non-championship race, won by the legendary Jim Clark for Team Lotus. A further non-championship Grand Prix took place at Imola in 1979, which was won by iconic three-time World Champion Niki Lauda, racing for Brabham-Alfa Romeo.
In 1980, Imola officially debuted in the Formula One World Championship calendar by hosting the 1980 Italian Grand Prix. It was the first time since the 1948 Edition held at the Parco del Valentino, that the Autodromo Nazionale Monza did not host the Italian Grand Prix as it underwent refurbishment. The race was won by Brazilian Nelson Piquet in the Parmalat Racing Team Brabham-Ford BT49, and it was such a success that a new race, the San Marino Grand Prix, was made especially for Imola the following year and remained on the calendar until 2006. The race was held over 60 laps of the 5km circuit for a total race distance of 300 kilometres.
30 years ago, 1994 San Marino GP was a dark weekend marred by tragedy, during Friday practice Jordan’s Rubens Barrichello was launched over a kerb and into the top of a tyre barrier at Variante Bassa, knocking the Brazilian unconscious, though quick medical intervention saved the Brazilian’s life. During Saturday qualifying Austrian Simtek’s Roland Ratzenberger crashed head-on into a wall at over 310kph (190mph) at the Villeneuve corner after his S941 lost its front wing, passing away instantly from a basilar skull fracture. The tragedy continued the next day when the three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna’s Williams’ FW16 steering column broke and he crashed into the concrete wall at the Tamburello corner on the seventh lap. Senna passed away in the hospital several hours after his crash. In two unrelated incidents, a few spectators and mechanics were also injured during the horrific weekend.
The circuit returned to the Formula One calendar in 2020 to fill the gaps caused by the coronavirus pandemic with the race named the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in honour of the region that it is located in.
It was announced in 2021, that the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari would replace the postponed Chinese Grand Prix as second round of the championship.
When the Formula 1 circus visits Imola, it is seen as the home Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari where the masses of “Tifosi” come out to support the “Prancing Horse”.
The current Grand Prix circuit layout is 4.909 kilometres (3.050 miles) in length and runs in an anti-clockwise direction.
Race distance is 309.049 kilometres (192.034 miles) in length with 63 laps in total and 19 corners.
Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap record set at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, posting a 1:15.484, in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team F1 W11 EQ Performance racer at the 2020 event.
Seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher holds the record for most victories at Imola with seven to his name.
Scuderia Ferrari and Williams Racing hold the record for most victories at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari with eight each to their respective names.
2025 Imola GP Preview – A Lap of the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari
Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari from the 2024 event, set by Max Verstappen in his Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT RB20 racer. The two-time world champion posted a 1:14.746. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_FC7MPkHg
2025 Imola GP Preview – Last Five Winners at Imola
2024: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2023: Cancelled. 2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Emilia Romagna GP). 2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 (Emilia Romagna GP). 2006: Michael Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari (San Marino GP).
2025 Imola GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Imola, the softest tyres in their range, the C4 white side-walled Hard tyres, the C5 yellow-marked Mediums and the red-branded C6 Softs alongside the green side-walled Intermediates and blue-marked Full Wets in-case of rain.
Drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two set of the hards.
2025 Imola GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be only one DRS Zone at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari which is on the main straight.
2025 Imola GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Piastri leads dominant McLaren 1-2 victory at Miami GP
Oscar Piastri lead from team-mate Lando Norris to bring home a dominant McLaren 1-2 victory at the Miami GP as Mercedes’ George Russell completed the top three.
This was Piastri’s fourth victory of the season and a hattrick of wins. Piastri’s lead over team-mate Norris in the World Driver’s Championship sits at 16 points (131-115).
When the 57-lap Miami GP began, pole-sitter Verstappen got an excellent start into the corner as he then suffers a lock-up into the turn one right hander, as Norris went wheel-to-wheel making slight contact, but the Briton lost three places after running off into the run-off area.
Further back, Alpine’s Jack Doohan suffered a puncture bringing out the yellow flag.
Verstappen held a 1.2 second lead over Antonelli with Piastri third, Russell fourth, Albon fifth as Norris rounded out the top six.
The virtual safety car was deployed after Doohan’s A525 entry was parked at turn 14. Replays showed that Doohan was on the inside into Turn 1 and made contact with Lawson, spinning the Kiwi RB driver around. Lawson managed to continue, but he was last.
When the VSC ended and the race resumed, Verstappen blasted away from Antonelli’s Silver Arrow as they reached the opening corner as the gap was sitting at 1.5 seconds.
In the fight for second place, with DRS assistance on the rundown towards turn 11, Piastri made his way past Antonelli to jump into second as a touch back, Piastri’s McLaren team-mate Norris also overtook Albon to jump into fifth place.
On the fifth tour, Sainz put himself back in sixth place overtaking Williams’ team-mate Albon.
On the beginning of the sixth lap, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was told over the radio that heavy rain could strike in 20 laps.
Out-front, Piastri could not quite get into DRS range of race leader Verstappen. They both started on the C4 mediums – and might need to pit before the rain arrived. Suddenly the hard tyre starters are looking handy, assuming the rain does arrive at the Miami International Autodrome.
On the seventh tour, Norris breezed his way ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell through the twisty sequence.
Fourth-placed Russell was starting to struggle on his harder rubber and was quickly falling into the clutches of Sainz.
On the ninth lap. The fight for the lead saw Piastri right within DRS range of race leader Verstappen as further back, Norris fought his way ahead of Antonelli at the turn 11 left hander to snatch third place.
On lap 10, Verstappen’s lead over Piastri was down to 0.500 seconds with Norris a further four seconds off in third, Antonelli fourth, Russell fifth as Sainz completed the top six.
Down the back straight Piastri had a look on the Dutchman into the left hander, but the Red Bull driver kept the Australian behind.
On lap 11, Piastri came close around the outside into turn one, but once again Verstappen closed the door. A bit later down in the tour, the former had a look around the outside, but the latter once again made it hard for the McLaren driver and kept him behind.
Verstappen was told by race engineer Giampiero Lambiase to make Piastri: “work for it.”
“It’s super slippery to drive,” responded Verstappen. That’s a reference to the tyres rather than any rain, no more spots have appeared, but we are only one lap away from when some teams were predicting some rain to fall.
The darker clouds were continuing to gather around the Miami International Autodrome.
On the beginning of the 14th tour with DRS on the main-straight, Piastri made a move around the outside of Verstappen into turn one and forced the Dutchman to brake later and lock-up into the corner at turn one into the dirty part of the track, as Piastri made his way into the lead as they exited the corner.
Norris was next to chase down Verstappen as the former tried to make the move into the turn 11 left hander, then on lap 15, Norris attempted to do the same on Verstappen, but the latter forced the former into the turn one run-off area and Norris could not get the move done.
Whilst Norris battled with Verstappen, Piastri in clear air was running away. He was already 3.5 seconds ahead of Verstappen at this stage of proceedings, who was defending for his life out there.
On the 17th tour, in the fight for second place, Norris made the move stick on Verstappen into the turn 11 left hander, but both drivers ran off the track when the move took place and a bit later in the tour, Verstappen was let back into second place.
A lap later Norris made the move on the inside of Verstappen at turn 11 and this time, took the position off the Dutchman. Verstappen did have a look on the McLaren later on down the back-straight but was unable to attempt anything on Norris.
Russell reported to his team that: “it is raining” on lap 19.
Lap 20, saw Piastri’s lead over team-mate Norris sitting at 9.263 seconds with Verstappen down in third, the two Mercedes of Antonelli and Russell following in fourth and fifth respectively as the two Wiliams’ of Sainz and Albon rounded out the top seven runners.
The stewards had a look at the Verstappen – Norris incident where the McLaren man conceded the place and opted for no further action.
The rain has not yet hit either, this could be sliding past the track by the looks of the radar at this stage – which was why Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll had pitted for some hard tyres.
“[Rain] looking unlikely, if it hits any part of the circuit, it will be very little,” said McLaren Team Principal Zak Brown. “Let’s see if we can have a pretty epic McLaren battle, it will be fun to see!”
A bit further back on the 23rd lap, Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton moved his way up into the points overtaking Haas’s Esteban Ocon for tenth at the turn 17 left hand hairpin.
Norris was starting to reel in Piastri, not by much, but the gap had dropped to 8.7s. This gap means McLaren could double stack their drivers if they opted to.
But with the threat of rain around, the front runners would want to stay out longer and ride out any potential threat from the skies.
Meanwhile, Ocon pitted from 11th and emerged down in 16th place behind RB’s Isack Hadjar.
“Possible light drops of rain for the next two laps, Turn 17 mostly,” Norris was told. Shades of Melbourne all over again for the front two runners.
Antonelli had pitted, so did Sainz. But that wasn’t good for the rookie – who had to wait for Sainz to go past and so the Italian lost a couple of seconds in that pit stop.
Antonelli came out in ninth place behind Hamilton as Sainz emerged behind tenth-placed Hulkenberg.
Meanwhile on lap 27, Verstappen boxed for his fresh set of hards and came out just in-front of Antonelli’s Silver Arrow to be in seventh place as Albon emerged behind the Mercedes driver in ninth place.
On lap 28, Verstappen on his fresher rubber breezed ahead of Hamilton before reaching the turn 17 left-hander as Sainz likewise does the same on Hulkenberg t move up into ninth.
Just past race distance, replays showed Haas’s Oliver Bearman suffered a hydraulics failure and was seen travelling slowly and pulled off the track deploying the virtual safety car.
Hamilton took advantage of a free stop to pit and emerged in tenth place on a new set of hards.
On lap 30, both Piastri and Norris came in under the VSC as Russell and Leclerc both pitted.
Russell also found his way ahead of Verstappen to take third place off the latter during the VSC pit-stop.
Piastri leads by seven seconds now over second-placed Norris, having lost a little bit of time under the VSC. Russell in third and Verstappen was fourth.
A touch back Albon passes Antonelli for fifth, and Sainz picked off Leclerc into the opening corner as well.
Tsunoda was down in 11th place, behind Hulkenberg who was yet to stop. But The Japanese driver picked up a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Bortoleto was on the radio complaining about his engine a few tours back, and then the Brazilian was told to pit to retire the car.
The VSC once more was deployed after Bortoleto stopped out on track and was unable to make his way back to the pits.
When the VSC ended, Leclerc ran wheel-to-wheel with his former team-mate Sainz around the outside into turn 17, but the duo ran together down the start-finish straight and made the move into turn one – Hamilton also made the move on the inside of the Williams into the opening corner and both Ferrari’s were up into seventh and eighth respectively.
With 20 laps remaining, Piastri’s lead over team-mate Norris was down to 6.931 seconds as Russell was a further 20.908 seconds adrift in third, Verstappen fourth, Albon fifth, Antonelli sixth, the two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz in seventh and eighth respectively as Sainz and Tsunoda rounded out the top ten.
Hamilton was not impressed after being held up behind Leclerc whilst running the quicker medium tyre. Leclerc was told to let Hamilton past. But after three laps of being stuck in the dirty air, Antonelli had built up a bit of a gap compared to the two Ferrari’s
Lawson had just pitted to retire his car and was the fourth retiree of the Grand Prix.
Out-front on the 41st tour, the lead stabilised with Piastri running at 6.562 seconds over team-mate Norris as the Australian was on the charge for his fourth victory of the campaign and to extend his championship lead.
“Have a tea break while you are at it,” Hamilton fumed as a delayed radio message was played. The seven-time world champion was not impressed by how long it took for Ferrari to make that decision.
But this one is going to rumble on, Leclerc now reported that he needed team-mate Hamilton to go faster – as he is 1.3s behind so was getting hit by the dirty turbulent air.
With ten laps to go, Piastri’s lead was cut as predicted with those back markers in the way. Just under five seconds between him and team-mate Norris. Russell was holding onto the final podium spot, but Verstappen was just 1.5 seconds back.
Albon was a solid fifth, in-front of Antonelli, Hamilton and Leclerc.
With seven tours remaining, after steadily losing time to Norris, Piastri was quicker last time around. The gap was sitting at 4.2 seconds. Behind them, Verstappen was unable to get close into DRS range of Russell. The gap between the pairing was still hovering around 1.5 seconds.
Norris took three tenths out of Piastri on the last tour, and the gap was down to 3.7 seconds. The questions were. Is the Australian managing his tyres, and biding his time? Or does Norris have more pace left in the tank? Their tyres are the same age, but the laps are counting down rapidly.
Hamilton was then told to swap positions with Leclerc. On lap 53, Hamilton let his team-mate by.
Piastri crossed the line to take victory over Norris by 4.630 seconds as Russell rounded out the top three and a further 337.664 seconds adrift.
Verstappen took fourth and in-front of Williams’ Albon who finished a solid fifth as Mercedes’ Antonelli reached the chequered flag sixth.
Both Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Hamilton followed in seventh and eighth respectively as Williams’ Carlos Sainz took ninth whilst Red Bull’s Tsunoda despite being hit with a five-second-timed-penalty for speeding in the pit-lane, just held onto the final points place from RB’s Hadjar.
Hamilton is currently under investigation by the race stewards for moving under braking at the turn 11 hairpin on Sainz.
Haas’s Ocon placed 12th and in-front of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who was 13th and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg who took 14th.
Both Aston Martin’s of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll brought up the rear.
2025 Imola GP – The Situation
Formula 1 returns to Italy this weekend for the Imola Grand Prix at the famous Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari as we begin a European Triple Header.
Miami brought a thriller last time out as Oscar Piastri scored his third successive victory and extended his World Driver’s Championship points lead over McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, who was second and sits 16 points behind the Australian.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen has fallen 32 points off of Piastri after a difficult F1 Sprint weekend in Miami but Red Bull, like most outfits, will be bringing upgrades to Imola in the hopes of closing the gap down to McLaren.
Ferrari will be on home tarmac for the first time this campaign, and Sir Lewis Hamilton will race in-front of the “Tifosi” for the first time in his Formula 1 career, with increasing pressure mounting on the Scuderia.
Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli will also be racing at home on the back of his amazing Sprint pole at the Miami International Autodrome. George Russell took another podium, but Antonelli was the more impressive driver, and it would be interesting to see his upward trajectory as his career continues to grow and develop.
On May 6, BWT Alpine F1 Team announced that Oliver Oakes would be resigning from his Team Principal role at the team with the Enstone based-squad receiving his resignation with immediate effect.
Flavio Briatore returns to takeover the reigns not only as Executive Advisor, but also in the Team Principal position left behind by Oakes.
The French-Enstone alliance thanked Oakes for his efforts since he joined last campaign and helping the team score sixth place in the World Constructor’s Championship standings.
A day later, Alpine also announced that it would rotate it’s driver line-up for the next five Grands Prix with Franco Colapinto taking the place of Australian Jack Doohan.
The Enstone team announced that Colapinto will partner Pierre Gasly from this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, ahead of another evaluation before the British Grand Prix in July.
Doohan remains part of the team and will be the reserve driver for this period of time.
Colapinto, who was the team’s Test and Reserve Driver, will race with the number 43 on his A525 racer and will partner with Gasly for the first time at Imola, ahead of three Grands Prix in three weekends in Europe, which also covers the Monaco and Spanish GP, before two races in Canada and Austria.
Executive Director Flavio Briatore stated: “Having reviewed the opening races of the season, we have come to the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre for the next five races. With the field being so closely matched this year, and with a competitive car, which the team has drastically improved in the past 12 months, we are in a position where we see the need to rotate our line-up. We also know the 2026 season will be an important one for the team and having a complete and fair assessment of the drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to maximise our ambitions next year. We continue to support Jack at the team, as he has acted in a very professional manner in his role as a race driver so far this season. The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options.” Briatore concluded. Credit to Alpine for the quote.
Colapinto added: “Firstly, I want to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to drive competitively for the next five races. I will work hard with the team to prepare for the next race in Imola and the upcoming triple-header, which will no doubt be intense and a big challenge for everyone. I have stayed sharp, and I am as ready as possible with the team’s race support testing programme, as well as on the simulator at Enstone. I will do my best to get up to speed quickly and give it my all to deliver the best possible results alongside Pierre.” Colapinto concluded. Credit to Alpine for the quote.
Piastri returns to Imola sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship standings with 131 points and a 16-point advantage to McLaren team-mate Norris who is second on 115 points, whilst Red Bull’s Verstappen is third and a further 32 points behind the Australian and on 99 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team heads to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, on top of the World Constructors Championship standings with 246 points, with a 105-points lead over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team who are second on 141 points, whilst Oracle Red Bull Racing are a further 141 points behind the Woking based-outfit in third place on 105 points.
Click here for the 2025 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top Ten) and Constructors Championship standings.
The Formula 1 AWS Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell’Emilia Romagna 2025 race weekend begins with Free Practice 1 and 2 on Friday May 16, followed by Free Practice 2 and 3 on Saturday May 17 concluding with the 63-lap race Sunday May 18.
