Poll: Official 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Race Thread - Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari - Race 7/24

[imtoooldforthis]

I’ve watched Max’s first corner move a few times now, it was such a great move from so far back. If that RB is closer to the McLarens in pace then good luck to them, they’re going to need it.

Wild how Piastri gets little criticism for braking too early and not paying attention to Max, yourself and a few others here would have absolutely called out Norris for it if he made that mistake

 

[Resident]

It was a good overtake but it was largely down to the fact that Oscar braked really early. He's said so himself and you can see from the footage from George's car how early he (Oscar) braked.

It certainly wasn't one of the best overtakes ever as Ant said. Max was just taking advantage of Oscar chucking out the anchors early.

Would have been interesting if Oscar hadn't braked early. The speed that Max carried, to me at least, indicates that he was going for it regardless. Everyone keeps calling it a masterclass overtake but in my opinion he was just lucky that Oscar made a mistake.

There's something that bothers me however about the sudden increase in pace of the RB. Been off the pace for the last few races then yesterday came out the gate like a gazelle on crystal meth.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Max’s mechanics rebuilt the front end of car 2-3 times during Free Practice trying out new suspension parts and it looks like they found a sweet spot.

Having clean air the entire race didn’t hurt things either.

 

[ShivP]

There's something that bothers me however about the sudden increase in pace of the RB. Been off the pace for the last few races then yesterday came out the gate like a gazelle on crystal meth.

That's how F1 works

 

[Kenai]

There's something that bothers me however about the sudden increase in pace of the RB. Been off the pace for the last few races then yesterday came out the gate like a gazelle on crystal meth.

They brought a fairly substantial upgrade package to Imola, which evidently worked pretty well

 

[Mesai]

Wild how Piastri gets little criticism for braking too early and not paying attention to Max, yourself and a few others here would have absolutely called out Norris for it if he made that mistake

He had to cover the inside from Russell too, who had a better start than both Max and Oscar.

Norris will brake early with no cars on the track.

 

[Mesai]

There's something that bothers me however about the sudden increase in pace of the RB. Been off the pace for the last few races then yesterday came out the gate like a gazelle on crystal meth.

Only if you look at their race pace. Typically Max qualifies with the McLarens but drops off in the race, presumably to manage tyres. There were also a couple upgrades for this race.

 

[imtoooldforthis]

He had to cover the inside from Russell too, who had a better start than both Max and Oscar.

Norris will brake early with no cars on the track.

and ? He still let Max past and lost the race because he focused too much on Russell.

Lando got grief in Miami for literally getting forced off track at T2 because Max oversteers and then it's all 'oh he's got no racecraft, blah blah'. Yet Oscar makes a worse unforced error and now all of a sudden there are 'reasons' and 'Norris would brake early with no cars on track'.

This place is like formuladank at times lol

 

[jonneymendoza]

and ? He still let Max past and lost the race because he focused too much on Russell.

Lando got grief in Miami for literally getting forced off track at T2 because Max oversteers and then it's all 'oh he's got no racecraft, blah blah'. Yet Oscar makes a worse unforced error and now all of a sudden there are 'reasons' and 'Norris would brake early with no cars on track'.

This place is like formuladank at times lol

Some just seem to hate a British driver with a passion for some reason

 

[Feek]

Some just seem to hate a British driver with a passion for some reason

These are the same people who don't vote for the UK in Eurovision

 

[jonneymendoza]

These are the same people who don't vote for the UK in Eurovision

I have never watched eurovision.

Is that the European version of pop idol?

 

[Trusty]

and ? He still let Max past and lost the race because he focused too much on Russell.

Lando got grief in Miami for literally getting forced off track at T2 because Max oversteers and then it's all 'oh he's got no racecraft, blah blah'. Yet Oscar makes a worse unforced error and now all of a sudden there are 'reasons' and 'Norris would brake early with no cars on track'.

This place is like formuladank at times lol

I don't think it was unforced. I think Piastri decided not to fight the corner that hard, let Max have the position. Piastri had far more to lose, worst case scenario was he got a hit and ended up with no points this weekend. But instead he's still leading Max by 22 points. He'll be thinking he can cover Norris til end the of the season. It's Max he's probably more worried about, especially if that RB has closed the gap on say 50% of the remaining tracks.

 

[Kenai]

I don't think it was unforced. I think Piastri decided not to fight the corner that hard, let Max have the position.

I think that's being generous to Piastri there - it's not like Max made a lunge and Piastri backed out, Piastri just braked needlessly early when Max arguably shouldn't have been a threat due to how far back he was and left the door absolutely wide open with a written invitation to Max on it, a driver like Max doesn't need to be asked twice when presented with an opportunity like that.

If he starts thinking 'I'm not going to fight this' before he's even got to the braking zone and the following car is barely a threat, he'll not stay at the head of the championship for long.

 

[Trusty]

I think that's being generous to Piastri there - it's not like Max made a lunge and Piastri backed out, Piastri just braked needlessly early when Max arguably shouldn't have been a threat due to how far back he was and left the door absolutely wide open with a written invitation to Max on it, a driver like Max doesn't need to be asked twice when presented with an opportunity like that.

If he starts thinking 'I'm not going to fight this' before he's even got to the braking zone and the following car is barely a threat, he'll not stay at the head of the championship for long.

I don't think so, Horner literally said it was a win it or bin it overtake. That corner is pretty dam tight, was it last year where Norris and Piastri clashed

Horner hails Verstappen after ‘win it or bin it’ Turn 1 move

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has heaped praise on Max Verstappen for his “decisive” and “win it or bin it” pass on Oscar Piastri at the start of Sunday’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

www.formula1.com

 

[Mesai]

and ? He still let Max past and lost the race because he focused too much on Russell.

Lando got grief in Miami for literally getting forced off track at T2 because Max oversteers and then it's all 'oh he's got no racecraft, blah blah'. Yet Oscar makes a worse unforced error and now all of a sudden there are 'reasons' and 'Norris would brake early with no cars on track'.

This place is like formuladank at times lol

He covers Max, Russell takes the inside line and I don't think he thought Max would go for it, although he should've known better. Maybe in hindsight covering Max was the better option but he kept it on track and was on his way to a safe 2nd or maybe some luck with the undercut.

Also, Oscar passed Max fine in Miami.

Some just seem to hate a British driver with a passion for some reason

Not hate, just no interest in supporting a mediocre driver with a "woe is me" attitude. There are better drivers on the grid and I don't think Norris has done anything to prove he deserves the WDC.

 

[jaybee]

Another lottery with VSC and SC. Still enjoyable though. Some good racing but I think turn 1 was 99% of the overtakes. Monaco next week. Ooof. Might give that one a miss.

 

[Kenai]

I don't think so, Horner literally said it was a win it or bin it overtake. That corner is pretty dam tight, was it last year where Norris and Piastri clashed

Horner hails Verstappen after ‘win it or bin it’ Turn 1 move

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has heaped praise on Max Verstappen for his “decisive” and “win it or bin it” pass on Oscar Piastri at the start of Sunday’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

www.formula1.com

Of course Horner is going to talk it up like it was an absolutely heroic move from Max in impossible circumstances but the reality is that Piastri braked so early that Russell was on the radio crying that he'd pretty much been brake checked. As soon as Max sees an opportunity like that, he's taking it - by that point, Piastri was cooked, he wasn't recovering from that early braking mistake without punting Max off.

Piastri's braking mistake was first and what invited the move from Max, it wasn't just Piastri sensibly conceding the corner after Max had already beaten him to it.

 

[Trusty]

Of course Horner is going to talk it up like it was an absolutely heroic move from Max in impossible circumstances but the reality is that Piastri braked so early that Russell was on the radio crying that he'd pretty much been brake checked. As soon as Max sees an opportunity like that, he's taking it - by that point, Piastri was cooked, he wasn't recovering from that early braking mistake without punting Max off.

Piastri's braking mistake was first and what invited the move from Max, it wasn't just Piastri sensibly conceding the corner after Max had already beaten him to it.

Piastri could have easily being more aggressive in that corner if wanted to hold it

 

[imtoooldforthis]

I don't think it was unforced. I think Piastri decided not to fight the corner that hard, let Max have the position. Piastri had far more to lose, worst case scenerio was he got a hit and ended up with no points this weekend. But instead he's still leading Max by 22 points. He'll be thinking he can cover Norris til end the of the season, it's Max he probably more worried about, especially if that RB has closed that gap on say 50% of the remaining tracks.

Yeh Piastri didn't fight the corner that hard, he couldn't because he had taken such a narrow entry into the corner due to holding off the inside from Russell that this left him with no momentum through the corner relative to Verstappen who had lots of space to brake late into and also the superior line in terms of carrying momentum through the corners.

The error was tunnel vision with regard to Russell and seemingly being too passive on the brakes. It's an understandable and small error though, but it was enough to lose him the race. I guess 'unforced error' may not be the correct term as pressure was applied by Russell. Either way it's something that Norris would get criticised heavily for if he had done it.

I don't think it's a big error or a sign that Piastri can't cut it. I just wish people were more consistent with their criticisms of drivers.

He covers Max, Russell takes the inside line and I don't think he thought Max would go for it, although he should've known better. Maybe in hindsight covering Max was the better option but he kept it on track and was on his way to a safe 2nd or maybe some luck with the undercut.

As I've said above, i really don't consider it some terrible error, just as i don't consider anything Lando did in Miami to be a significant error... but if people are going to be very critical of Norris over small things (granted some of it is fair, a chunk isn't though) then same level of criticism needs to be applied to Piastri.

Drives make mistakes, both Lando and Piastri will make more throughout the season, especially at the hands of Max.

Also, Oscar passed Max fine in Miami.

So did Lando, each driver spent the same total number of laps behind Max.

They are both very good drivers and capable of winning titles so long as Verstappen can't battle on a level playing field.

 

[Kenai]

Piastri could have easily being more aggressive in that corner if wanted to hold it

He could have, but very probably would have ended up making contact or pushing Max off because of the position his braking error left him in - which would have netted him a penalty because Max was comfortably far enough alongside to be entitled to space.

Like I said, he made the mistake of braking far too early, Max pounced on that unforced error and Piastri was left with no real choices to defend without jeopardising his race.

It wasn't good racecraft protecting himself from some mad 'move or we crash' type lunge, he dropped the ball, braked early and left the door open for a driver that will always take the gap.