Race 7 - 2025 Emilia Romagna GP -Imola

[Nitrodaze]

What a great race!
Stars of the race are Verstappen for a great first corner overtake, Yuki for a 10-places overtake, and Hamilton for an 8-places overtake. Unlucky for Leclerc, who l think should have been on the podium today. That said, what about Albon and Williams? What a brilliant showing. Hadjah is becoming quite a star in the Racing Bull.

Surprised how the Mercedes faded as the race went on. Their strategy was a long way off the optimum and they paid dearly for it.

For me, Williams is shining and the star of the race. Sainz losing his seat at Ferrari and taking the William seat is now looking like a blessing in disguise.


What a way to celebrate their 400th race at Redbull with a race win. Verstappen the golden goose, that just keeps giving golden eggs.

@Airshifter, l wonder what your speed chart is saying this time round?

[Used to be Starter]

Interesting race. Hamilton had a good day for sure compared to where he started. Max had a great move into turn 1 at the start and pretty much dominated the race after that. Strong showing by Aston in qualifying evaporated in the race.

[Matthew]

Glad to see a good performance today by both Ferrari drivers after a disappointing performance in the qualifying. Hopefully, it will given them an idea of how to get good results in the future races.

[Nitrodaze]

Interesting race. Hamilton had a good day for sure compared to where he started. Max had a great move into turn 1 at the start and pretty much dominated the race after that. Strong showing by Aston in qualifying evaporated in the race.

Ferrari just witnessed HammerTime in their cars at this race. I hope Adami gets it.

[airshifter]

Overall a fun race to watch. The strategy differences and timing of the VSC and full SC kept resetting a lot of driver positions and making it interesting again.

Up front Max once again made it clear why he wins titles. Oscar didn't know he was there until the pass was already done, and though the pace difference wasn't huge, Max could stay in clean air and control the race. Combined with being able to run long and VSC/SC timing, he didn't have to work very hard to stay there.

I give Lando credit, he made some decent moves on track and kept fighting, even when he lost out on the luck of the incidents. I also liked that he didn't cry and whine, but overtook Oscar on merit after he got fresh rubber. Not that he really had anything for Max, but at least he stayed in the game.

As with any race with VSC/SC, there were winners and losers in the lottery draw of when it happened in combination with that cars strategy. I think both Williams cars looked strong, but on the flip side Astom Martin looked good as well, they just didn't have any lottery luck. I still don't really know what to think of Ferrari. They obviously had fairly good race pace, evident even in the practice sessions. But it hurt them badly on one lap qually pace. Finding the balance might be key, otherwise they will need some luck to crack the top 5 on a regular basis. And once again, they were a clown show with Leclerc this race, feeding him poor information on tires when it mattered, not that it mattered because they gave him bad scoop on Lewis pitting and the need to double stack if he took new softs. It worked out well for them this race but could have easily been better if they executed properly.


As for speed charts or HammerTime...

Charles got to P6 on pure merit. Lewis got lucky on stops, and only passed cars with a tire offset with any authority at all. Kimi and George were the only two passes on track that are even worth mentioning. Charles had the faster lap average by over 4/10th through the race. If people count that as a win..... well go right ahead.

[FluffyYeti]

As a Hamilton fan I was happy for his decent result, but admittedly good luck helped quite a bit. I wish it was all him but it wasn't. Every race weekend I hope to see Lewis find some lost mojo or whatever but it never quite happens. Sure, it doesn't help that the Ferrari isn't as strong as it could be, but it would at least be great if he wasn't regularly outperformed by his own teammate.

[Nitrodaze]

As a Hamilton fan I was happy for his decent result, but admittedly good luck helped quite a bit. I wish it was all him but it wasn't. Every race weekend I hope to see Lewis find some lost mojo or whatever but it never quite happens. Sure, it doesn't help that the Ferrari isn't as strong as it could be, but it would at least be great if he wasn't regularly outperformed by his own teammate.

@FluffyYeti, it was expected that LeClerc would be ahead for the period that Hamilton learns the Ferrari SF25. This is what normally happens when a driver moves from one team to another. You will see the same pattern with Sainz and Ocon, who are both outperformed by their teammates. This period is very painful for the drivers and their fans, but it will pass.

Of all the drivers that have changed teams, Hamilton is performing better than the others. He has won a sprint race and has consistently finished in the top ten. Imola is the second time that he has beaten LeClerc without the aid of team orders, l might add, who has seven years of experience with the Ferrari machinery relative to him. The fact that he is only 8 points behind LeClerc is evidence of how strongly he is making progress with the Ferrari.

What a driver achieves at the end of the race depends on a combination of things, ranging from good in-race strategic thinking to capitalise on the situations of the race, to excellent performance, to being at the right place at the right time to maximise points haul by the end of the race.

At Imola, Hamilton demonstrated all of these things at the highest level. He capitalised on the first VSC to ensure he moved into the top 10. When the safety car came, he ensured he was on the right tyres at the right time to have a good tyre life delta to the car in front of him. It was both of these smart thinking that put him in fourth place and nearly in a podium position.

It is not always about driving faster than everyone else that determines excellence. It is also about out-thinking your opponents and getting ahead of them. At Imola, while LeClerc was having a meltdown in the car, Hamilton was cool and thinking smart. Their in-race approach is why they ended up where they did at the end of the race. LeClerc finished 6th as his approach was full of frustration. Hamilton finished 4th as his approach was cool, calculated and methodical.

Those with very poor understanding of racing or overtly dislike Hamilton for his colour would say things like it was luck or the VSC and safety car is what made it possible for him. Yes, that is true, but these are normal and natural factors of racing. The brilliant racers are the ones who understand these situations and are able to exploit them to their advantage. That is why Verstappen was able to put a ten-second gap between himself and the nearest McLaren to ensure they were unable to catch up easily and challenge him for the race win. That is why Hamilton was able to move up from 12th place to fourth when other better-positioned cars like both Mercedes faded away and ended up behind him. Champions are those who manufacture their own luck with the ingredients of the race situations. And the multiple champions on track at Imola demonstrated this fact with perfection.

You, as a Hamilton fan, should see the positives and not the negatives. Leave the negatives to anti-Hamilton people. He is doing just fine and would improve greatly as the season progresses. The same can be said for Sainz and Ocon, who are both fantastic racers

[Bagwan]

"Those with very poor understanding of racing or overtly dislike Hamilton for his colour would say things like it was luck or the VSC and safety car is what made it possible for him."

This is too much .
You should immediately apologize .

[Nitrodaze]

"Those with very poor understanding of racing or overtly dislike Hamilton for his colour would say things like it was luck or the VSC and safety car is what made it possible for him."

This is too much .
You should immediately apologize .

Hi Baggie! Apologise to who?