After McLaren’s dominant one-two in Miami this month, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were asked whether their rivalry this season could evolve into a “Hamilton vs Rosberg scenario from 2016”, a year when Mercedes had a dominant car and their two drivers were allowed to slug it out to a bitter conclusion.

Max Verstappen has won four times in a row at Imola but a fifth next year looks unlikely with Formula One set to drop the Italian circuit.

A brilliant performance in a pacy Red Bull — plus some lucky timing — pulled Max Verstappen clear of the pack in the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, which looks set to mark F1's final race at Imola

McLaren opted not to order Piastri to allow Lando Norris past in a bid to challenge Verstappen but the British driver ultimately made a brave move on his team-mate with five laps to go to finish second. Piastri’s lead to Norris was cut to 13 points, with Verstappen now 22 points behind the Australian.

Getting past someone is notoriously hard at Imola. In a 2005 classic, Fernando Alonso held off Michael Schumacher's much faster car for the entire race. Even though the cars are larger and heavier now and more closely matched, overtaking was still possible, like Norris' pass on Russell.

Even Max Verstappen was surprised his teammate Yuki Tsunoda was able to walk away from a heavy crash in qualifying for Formula 1's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday. Tsunoda clipped the curb on the inside of a left-hand corner in his Red Bull car and spun into the barrier.

Race updates as safety car called out - Follow live updates as Max Verstappen takes the lead from Oscar Piastri with stunning overtake