The 2025 season is now heading towards a crucial triple header. We will see some important upgrades this weekend and there’s flexi wing crackdown at Spain, which may very well set the tone for the rest of the season. Last race weekend in Miami we saw the McLarens run off into the sunset gapping the rest of the field despite Max’s valiant efforts to keep them behind in the initial laps. Merc had a strong showing with another one of Russell’s P3 and P6 for Kimi. Ferrari was yet again found lacking in the strategy department and could only manage P7-8. Williams are doing well to cement their place as the leaders of the midfield. Aston Martin drivers were the last to finish and 2 of the 3 cars to get lapped the 3rd being a Kick Sauber.
This week we’ll see the Argentinian Franco Colapinto replace Jack Doohan on the grid having signed a five-race deal with Alpine. Speaking of Alpine, we are getting Flavio Briatore; infamous for the crash gate scandal, heading the team. Meanwhile on the Ferrari’s side of the garage, Charles had called in sick for the media day but has been seen in paddocks so nothing to worry.
The Track
The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit or Imola circuit as it is commonly called is well liked by the drivers and has been said to be quite exciting to drive on. It is a high speed 4.9 km circuit with just a single DRS zone. These characteristics make overtaking hard and often you need a significant pace advantage to make a move stick. Qualifying will have a greater than usual impact here. There’s not a lot of tire deg but the braking zones, elevation changes and kerbs paired with the heavy acceleration can put quite some stress on them.
Turn 9 (Piratella) is fast and is somewhat of a blind turn. Drivers need to be often mindful of the amount of kerb they take here as the line between too little and too much is not a big one. Acque Minerali is quite tricky with the downhill entry and the uphill braking. Tamburello Chicane should also be mentioned as it is one of the main overtaking zones and it also is where the Senna lost his life back when it was a single high-speed turn. This track enriched in history, promises to test the drivers and their trust in the rides.
Teams use a one stop strategy here due the pitstop taking about 28 seconds and the overtaking being difficult on track. To persuade the teams to think about more the one stop, Pirelli has bought its softest C6 compound. So, the tires for the weekend are C4 (Hard), C5 (Medium) and The C6 (Soft). It would be interesting to see if a two stopper is employed or the teams manage the tires even more for a one stopper.
Team Upgrades
Red Bull brings 3rd part of its upgrade package. They had preponed the floor upgrade that supposed to come at Imola to Miami so this weekend they just have some suspension and bodywork changes to improve the airflow inside of the car. McL have also bought changes to their floor and suspension and a circuit specific high downforce aero package. Williams and Sauber seem to be satisfied with the car and have bought no upgrades. Aston Martin however, has bought extensive upgrades. How much worth they may be remains to be seen, as Aston hasn’t had a lot of luck with their upgrades recently and with their focus set mainly on nailing the new regs there isn’t much expected from them.
What to watch out for?
This is the home race for Kimi Antonelli who has had a strong showing in the Merc so far. Also, it is the second home race for Ferrari and Racing Bulls (Monza is THE Italian GP). We would need to keep eyes on Hamilton and see how his first outing racing a Ferrari in Italy goes. Aston Martin with their major upgrade and Alonso yet to score a point this season is also a point of curiosity. Then we have Franco, who was good last season but crashed the Williams a bit more than the team would have preferred. Carlos would also be searching for a good weekend as he was not satisfied with the P9 at Miami.
The main point of attraction though are the two McL boys, Max Verstappen and George Russell; who is yet to finish outside of P5 this season. He has remained consistent and is snapping at Max’s heels in the WDC. Max remains in amazing form putting his car at positions it shouldn’t be at. He is constantly pushing out godly qualifying laps and is putting his car at pole. However, he is struggling with a lot of deg and pace over race distance is not quite there. Still This weekend testing a GT3, Max Verstappen Franz Hermann set a lap record at the Nürburgring and we know to never write the dutchman out.
This is exactly where the McLarens shine whatever the trick with the brakes may be whether it be the phase changing material or something else, is completely working. They have a similar one lap pace to the other cars but their brakes managing the temps mean the tyres don’t degrade as quickly and thus allowing them to go longer in stints and have a race pace advantage. The point of concern for them is their drivers. While they both are extremely talented and are leading the championship, they are prone to mistakes and that has allowed the other drivers to be in pursuit. Piastri though has been clinical in his racecraft recently and has made some great overtakes and managed his pace expertly but sometimes messes up the qualifying. Lando this season has not been up there after the winning the season opener and is not comfortable with the car. Andrea Stella had said that the recent upgrades also aim to make the car more comfortable for him, it remains to be seen how that goes.
