Decoding Red Bull's win, McLaren's choices and Monaco GP predictions: F1 mailbag

IMOLA, Italy —  This may have been the last Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix for a while, but it ended on an action-filled note. 

Max Verstappen won his second race of the season after what may have been the best overtake in his Formula One career in a “win it or bin it” moment, while McLaren rounded out the rest of the podium, Lando Norris taking second and Oscar Piastri third. A virtual safety car from Esteban Ocon came at a lucky time for some drivers like Williams’ Alex Albon, while the safety car triggered by Kimi Antonelli raised strategy questions as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc didn’t pit but inquired about the new C6 tire, Pirelli’s softest compound. 

One of the biggest storylines that came from this weekend, aside from Verstappen’s move, was Albon’s fifth-place finish after he fought the Ferraris on merit. It marks his second consecutive P5 finish, and Albon is now eight points off of Antonelli. Williams 31 points ahead of Haas in the ‘best of the rest’ battle, and because the team is not developing its 2025 car, these early gains — and mega ones at that — are that much more critical. 

Meanwhile, Franco Colapinto made his Alpine debut but finished 16th, a few places back from teammate Pierre Gasly. Aston Martin looked set for points finishes after a strong qualifying outing, both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso advancing to Q3. And Yuki Tsunoda recovered from his pit lane start to bring home a point for Red Bull in what was its 400th grand prix start. 

Before the paddock (including both of us) heads to Monaco for the second race of this European tripleheader, we answered a few of your post-race questions from Imola. 

Editor’s note: Questions were lightly edited for clarity and brevity

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Various things helped Max (getting ahead, VSC and safety car timing) but at no point did McLaren look faster. It’s not like McLaren was closing up until running into the dirty air. Was this down to the peculiarities of the circuit or has Red Bull more or less caught up? And what are the predictions given the nature of Monaco? — Michael S.

All season long, Red Bull has very much seemed on the back foot compared to McLaren, relying on Verstappen’s brilliance behind the wheel to dig it out of trouble and keep it in contention at the front. But just how bad (or good, in fact!) is the RB21?

Clearly, it’s capable of winning races, so it can’t be a bad car at all. And the pace Verstappen showed through the race at Imola was incredibly encouraging for Red Bull. The team has brought some updates in recent races to try to boost its performance, putting it into a happier performance window that Verstappen has struggled to find for the best part of a year now.

Verstappen was also on pole and led the early stages two weeks ago in Miami, only to finish almost 40 seconds off the winner. What was different this time around was the track layout, with more high-speed corners suiting Verstappen at the Red Bull car better.

Post-race, Verstappen said Red Bull’s form was still “very track specific,” having worked hard on the setup to go from being nowhere on Friday to taking pole 24 hours later. McLaren F1 boss Andrea Stella admitted he was surprised by just how good Red Bull had performed, putting its victory down to a mix of the track layout, the ambient conditions and, importantly, its updates. “I think they have improved,” Stella said. “They’ve been developing their car over the last couple of races and I think they have taken a step forward.”

I’d still back McLaren to be the outright quickest team, and Monaco is a circuit that should play more toward the MCL39. After that, we have Spain, which has plenty of high-speed corners, is going to then swing back to Red Bull — plus we have the new front wing technical directive that could impact the performance of the leading teams.

Red Bull hasn’t caught up just yet, but on its day, it is going to be very hard to beat. — Luke Smith

Did McLaren entertain or consider the idea of using team orders to chase down Max with Lando Norris at the end? Oscar Piastri had no chance on old tires and it cost them the top step. — Nick B.

With Piastri’s race compromised by the early decision to pit, followed by the virtual and full safety car periods, Norris was always its better bet to win in the closing stages. Pitting Norris under the safety car cost him track position to Piastri, who stayed out, but he had 16-lap fresher tires, putting him on the same strategy as Verstappen.


Yet McLaren gave no consideration to making a swap on the track. The team is giving its drivers equal status in this year’s championship fight, and this rang true with the decision not to intervene. Norris did point out the tire difference on the radio, albeit with the caveat that he was not asking for a swap in position.

Stella said the team had discussed all the various scenarios ahead of the race — a legacy of last year’s growing pains and ‘papaya rules’ — but he was happy for the drivers to make the calls on their strategies. Piastri was content with not coming in again to gain track position, but Norris wanted to come in for fresh tires even though it would cost him a position.

By the time Norris passed Piastri, Verstappen had already disappeared five seconds up the road. Yet Stella doubted McLaren had enough of a pace advantage against the Red Bull anyway. “Max was responding to Lando,” Stella said. “Here to overtake, you need seven, eight-tenths of a second (advantage), so I think it’s what it is. The main factor remains the swap of position and the outcome of lap one.”

Would Norris have been closer to Verstappen than Piastri? Most probably. But it is unlikely to have been enough to win it. — Luke Smith

Williams are having their best season to date. Albon and Sainz are absolutely flying. But at what point does Williams stop 2025 development and shift their focus to 2026, given how tight the pack is getting? — Collinlee1903

I saw it mentioned a few times that Williams is already focusing on the ‘26 car – has Albon (and Sainz)’s form made them reconsider this to hold on to 5th in the constructors and the benefits that come with? — Roman P. 

Williams clearly has made quite a step in the midfield, as it sits fifth with 51 points after seven race weekends. It has a 31-point gap over Haas, and Albon fought Ferrari on merit en route to his fifth-place finish at Imola. And while it may be surprising, it sounds like Williams is not budging on the plan to focus its resources on the 2026 car, rather than firing up development to improve this year’s FW47. 

“This car is not going to be developed. The car that we have is good enough to be on par with Mercedes and Ferrari at some circuits, like we saw in Miami and here,” Carlos Sainz said Sunday after the Emilia-Romagna GP. “It’s not good enough for other circuits, like Barcelona, you will see we will not be in the fight. Who knows in Monaco? We will see.”

Other teams have continued developing, so it’s likely only a matter of time until Williams is consistently matched or passed. But right now, Williams is “still holding our own,” Albon said. The team has made significant progress, and it does make me wonder what could have been if it had continued development in some capacity for this first part of the season. But it does build more intrigue around 2026, when the regulations change. James Vowles has been consistent that Williams is a long-term project, and it has the tools in place, including a strong driver lineup in Sainz and Albon. 

Does Haas need to reconsider Bearman? — Joseph S. 

This question surprised me, because Ollie Bearman is performing quite well in his rookie season compared to some of the other new full-time drivers. You can’t expect the performance he did in Saudi Arabia last year as the standard because there is a performance difference between that year’s Ferrari car and this year’s Haas. 

In regards to the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Bearman got unlucky because of an issue with his pit stop. He pitted on Lap 30, during the virtual safety car, for medium tires and had to pit again a lap later because his wheel was not attached properly. He swapped for hard tires during that additional stop and rejoined in P19. There’s only so much you can do at that point, particularly on a track where overtaking is rare. 

Haas realized it had an issue with its car at the start of the season, and given how long development takes, the problem wouldn’t be solved for several races. Certain tracks expose the weakness more than others, which would explain the difference between Australia and China. Haas made revisions to its floor, which appear to have worked. — Madeline Coleman

For Luke, if he’s answering any of these: How does Imola stand up as a running venue? — Scott M.

Scott, you know I love answering questions about running the tracks. For anyone not familiar with my, uh, brand, then running the F1 track is a very important part of each grand prix weekend for me. (I’ve also got a bigger feature in the works that you’ll have to wait a bit longer for…)

Onto Imola! So, full disclosure, I’d not run at all since doing my lap in Miami, meaning I wasn’t feeling too fresh when I ventured out after qualifying yesterday. But man, what a beautiful circuit. After winning an argument with the security guard at the gate, I stretched and set off.

What strikes me about Imola is just how narrow the track is at points. It’s a lush, green circuit, and I smiled seeing the houses that line the track, thinking what it must be like to live there all year round.

The surprising thing about Imola is how hilly it is at points. After exiting Tosa, the hairpin, you go up quite a steep incline before Piratella. I looked to the left, back down the hill toward the Villeneuve chicane, and it’s quite staggering just how high up you end up going.

All in all, a short-ish (4.8km) and, importantly, incredibly picturesque lap. One of my favorites of the season. I’ll miss it next year. — Luke Smith

(Top photo of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images; Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)