McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes the first lap “very much” decided the outcome of the 2025 F1 Imola GP, as Max Verstappen stormed past Oscar Piastri on the opening lap to then take a comfortable victory.
Although Red Bull have shown impressive qualifying pace this season – Verstappen’s taken three of the seven possible grand prix pole positions this season – their race pace hasn’t always been there, with tyre degradation in hot races proving an especially difficult challenge for the Milton Keynes-based squad.
McLaren “a little surprised” by how fast Red Bull was
But those were exactly the conditions on Sunday in Imola, which somewhat surprised McLaren as to just how strong their rivals proved to be. Speaking in his print media session after the race, Stella explained how McLaren already expected a closer race than last time out in Miami, but was still surprised by Verstappen’s pace.
He added that the evenly-matched cars meant the race was “very much” decided on the first lap, regardless of the strategic ramifications that would take place:
“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,” he said. “We knew that it would have been very balanced in qualifying, like already I’ve seen in Saudi [Arabia], in Japan, in this kind of fast flowing circuit.
“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 [Verstappen], 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 swap of position, between Oscar [Piastri] 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, taking the lead after lap one.”
“Not enough” race pace means first lap was the deciding factor
When asked what could’ve been done differently to try and beat Verstappen, Stella explained none of the plans to beat the Red Bull could come to fruition, through a sheer lack of pace in McLaren relative to the RB21 at the Imola F1 GP, insisting that the first lap was the deciding factor in the outcome of the race:
“I think today, like I said before, we attempted to unlock various scenarios to try and beat Max, but at no stage I think we saw that we had enough race pace,” he explained. “Even with the final safety car, Lando [Norris] could pass Oscar and try to push as much as possible, pretty much Max was responding to Lando.
“So, here to overtake you need seven, eight tenths of a second, so I think it is what it is.
“The main factor remains the swap of position and the outcome of lap one.”
Decision to let drivers race in final stages was “relatively straightforward”
Stella revealed it was Piastri’s decision to stay out during the final safety car, as the championship leader prioritized a chance to regain track position over new tyres. His team-mate, however, opted for the new rubber in order to have the best shot at taking victory away from Max Verstappen.
The McLaren F1 team principal said that was a “straightforward” decision that satisfied both driver and team’s needs, which he believes was the best choice all around and in line with was discussed internally before the Imola GP:
“Well, we discussed these kinds of scenarios before the race, so we don’t enter the race with everything to be debated live,” he said. “And we know that when you have degradation, you sort of need the new tyres, because we stay out of used tyres, even if Imola is not the easiest track to overtake.
“Not only you can be re-overtaken by those that pitted, but you can be overtaken multiple times, which I think is what happened today with [Charles] Leclerc.
“So, I think with Oscar we were happy to take a bit of risk, because we know that the car is competitive and we knew that the tyres were not going off completely and Oscar wanted to play this card to try and see if he could gain a position.
“Fair enough, the drivers are free to race from this point of view, but Lando was quite convinced that he wanted the new tyres because he would have been able to re-overtake. And again, if we wanted to have a chance with Max, we did need the new tyres.
“So, I think it was a relatively straightforward decision.”
Imola’s corner profiles played into Red Bull’s strenghts
McLaren’s trademark strength this season has been on mastering the tyres in hot track conditions, which increases their advantage dramatically come race day, when tyres are pushed to their limits in temperature and wear, but that wasn’t the case on Sunday in Imola.
There wasn’t any visible advantage McLaren had over Red Bull in that regard, and when quizzed why that was, Stella referred to the different aerodynamic requirements of Imola F1 GP, as the more high-speed focused Italian track plays into Red Bull’s strengths – a team that, at the same time, has been improving with a series of developments in recent races:
“We will have to look at the data, we will have to look at the behaviour of the tyres and their thermal regime.
“I think what’s happening today is a combination of [factors],” he added. “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.
“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 aerodynamic part of the aerodynamic map. 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.”
