Verstappen has won the last three Imola races, Norris finished on the podium at the circuit in 2021, 2022 and 2024 and both Alonso and Hamilton have previous wins here. Here’s everything you need to know about each driver’s history at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix!
Max VERSTAPPEN
Max Verstappen has won the last three Emilia Romagna Grands Prix. They’re his only three finishes at the track, having retired from the 2020 Imola race after picking up a puncture and spinning out into the gravel trap, bringing out the Safety Car.
Verstappen is yet to qualify outside of the top three at Imola. After qualifying third in both 2020 and 2021, he won the Sprint in 2022 to secure pole position and took a second pole at the track in 2024.
Verstappen appeared at Imola in the FIA F3 European championship in 2014. In the three races, he recorded a retirement, a second place finish and a win. His win came in the third race, for which he started from pole position.
MAX VERSTAPPEN’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
WON |
3 |
3 |
DNF |
– |
2021 |
LOST |
3 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2022 |
WON |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2024 |
WON |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Yuki TSUNODA
Liam Lawson competed at Imola in Formula 2 in 2022. After qualifying 14th, Lawson scored a single point with an eighth place finish in the Sprint Race. He failed to finish the Feature Race. In addition, Lawson does have some on-track F1 experience here, having driven the 2022 AlphaTauri car at the track in July 2024.
Lando NORRIS
Lando Norris has finished on the podium in each of the last three Emilia Romagna Grands Prix. The British driver has a 100% points scoring rate at the track, having also finished eighth in 2020. After finishing third in both 2021 and 2022, Norris followed that up with second place in 2024.
Norris is one of only three drivers to have reached Q3 at each of the last four races at Imola, with a best qualifying result of third, secured in 2024. He looked set to line up on the front row in 2021 – but his lap time was invalidated for breaching track limits.
Prior to Formula 1, Norris raced at Imola in the Italian F4 Championship in 2015. From the three races, he finished in a best position of fourth.
LANDO NORRIS’ IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
WON |
9 |
9 |
8 |
1 |
2021 |
LOST |
7 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
2022 |
WON |
5 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
2024 |
LOST |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
Oscar PIASTRI
Oscar Piastri raced at Imola for the first time in the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. He out-qualified his team-mate and would have started from the front row if he had not picked up a three-place grid penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen in Q1. He made up one position in the race, as a result of undercutting the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz – but was unable to pass Charles Leclerc later in the race.
OSCAR PIASTRI’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2024 |
WON |
2 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
Lewis HAMILTON
Lewis Hamilton has taken one previous win at Imola, emerging victorious in the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. He finished as runner-up in 2021, despite finding himself in a gravel trap mid-race. Hamilton finished only 13th in 2022 but returned to the points in 2024 with a sixth place finish.
Hamilton qualified on the front row in both 2020 and 2021, but could do no better than 14th in qualifying at the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. He reached Q3 in 2024, qualifying eighth, but 2021 is the only time he has out-qualified his team-mate at the circuit.
Prior to the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Hamilton last appeared at Imola 14 years previously. Partaking in only his second weekend in F1’s feeder series GP2, Hamilton had a weekend to forget. After qualifying third for the Feature Race, he jumped the start and was then disqualified for overtaking the Safety Car. In the Sprint Race, he fought back from the rear of the grid to tenth place.
LEWIS HAMILTON’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
LOST |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2021 |
WON |
1 |
1 |
2 |
-1 |
2022 |
LOST |
14 |
14 |
13 |
1 |
2024 |
LOST |
8 |
8 |
6 |
2 |
Charles LECLERC
Charles Leclerc has recorded top six results in all four F1 races in which he has competed at Imola. He finished fifth in 2020 and went one better in 2021, finishing in fourth place. He finished only sixth in 2022 following a late race error at the Variante Alta. In 2024, Leclerc recorded his first podium finish at Imola, finishing third.
Leclerc has reached Q3 in all four Imola appearances, with a best qualifying result of second in 2022. He’s yet to be out-qualified by a team-mate at this track. 2022 marked the first – and so far only – time he lost positions from where he started at Imola.
CHARLES LECLERC’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
WON |
7 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
2021 |
WON |
4 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
2022 |
WON |
2 |
2 |
6 |
-4 |
2024 |
WON |
4 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
George RUSSELL
George Russell reached the chequered flag at Imola for the first time in 2022, coming home in fourth place. His seventh place finish in the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is the only other time that Russell has crossed the finish line at Imola.
The 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was not Russell’s finest moment. On course for a good result, the Williams driver crashed out of the race behind the Safety Car. Similarly, in 2021, he collided with the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, ending the pair’s race.
2024 marked the first time in his four appearances at Imola that Russell reached Q3. He was eliminated in Q2 on all three previous visits before qualifying sixth in 2024. Russell is yet to be out-qualified by a team-mate here.
Prior to Formula 1, Russell last raced at Imola in FIA F3 in 2016. He finished in the top four in all three races, recording two podium finishes, with a best result of second place. He started third on the grid for all three events.
GEORGE RUSSELL’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
WON |
13 |
13 |
DNF |
– |
2021 |
WON |
12 |
12 |
DNF |
– |
2022 |
WON |
11 |
11 |
4 |
7 |
2024 |
WON |
6 |
6 |
7 |
-1 |
Kimi ANTONELLI
Kimi Antonelli has raced on multiple occasions in the past at Imola. After racing here in the Italian F4 Championship in 2022, he competed here in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2023. Last year, Antonelli raced at Imola in Formula 2. After qualifying fourth, he finished tenth in the Sprint Race and fourth in the Feature Race.
Fernando ALONSO
Fernando Alonso is the only driver on the 2025 grid who raced at Imola when it hosted the San Marino Grand Prix. Alonso raced in the San Marino Grand Prix five times between 2001 and 2006. He scored on four appearances, and won in 2005 following a memorable duel with Michael Schumacher. The Spaniard went on to finish as runner-up in 2006.
Alonso has failed to score at the track only three times, including in each of the last two Imola races. After recording retirements in both 2001 and 2022, he finished a lowly 19th in 2024.
Alonso has never taken pole position at Imola, but qualified on the front row in 2005. He has qualified in the top ten on five of his eight appearances – missing out in 2001, 2021 and 2024. 2024 – when he suffered an issue in Q1 after a crash in Free Practice 3 – marked his first Q1 exit at the track, as well as only one of two times that he has been out-qualified by a team-mate here.
Alonso has finished in a better position than where he started every time he has reached the chequered flag at Imola. He started from the pit lane in 2024.
FERNANDO ALONSO’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2001 |
WON |
18 |
18 |
DNF |
– |
2003 |
WON |
8 |
8 |
6 |
2 |
2004 |
WON |
6 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
2005 |
WON |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2006 |
WON |
5 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
2021 |
LOST |
15 |
15 |
10 |
5 |
2022 |
WON |
9 |
9 |
DNF |
– |
2024 |
LOST |
19 |
PIT |
19 |
1 |
Lance STROLL
Lance Stroll has gained positions from where he has started on all four F1 appearances at Imola to date. The Canadian has a 100% finish rate here and has picked up points three times – with an eighth place finish in 2021, tenth in 2022 and ninth in 2024.
Stroll reached Q3 at the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, but has been eliminated in Q2 in all three of his other visits to Imola. 2021 and 2024 are the only seasons in which Stroll has out-qualified his team-mate at the track, though Fernando Alonso was hampered by issues in Q1 in 2024.
Stroll has had success at Imola in the junior formulas. In the Italian F4 championship in 2014, Stroll won two of three Imola races with the Prema team and finished second in the other race. In the FIA F3 European Championship two years later, Stroll again won two of the three races, having started on pole for all three events.
LANCE STROLL’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
LOST |
15 |
15 |
13 |
2 |
2021 |
WON |
10 |
10 |
8 |
2 |
2022 |
LOST |
15 |
15 |
10 |
5 |
2024 |
WON |
13 |
13 |
9 |
4 |
Pierre GASLY
Pierre Gasly started an impressive fourth at the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but faced a tough Grand Prix afternoon, retiring from the race after only eight laps. He picked up points here for the only time so far in 2022, finishing in seventh place. He came home 12th in 2022 and 16th in 2024.
After being eliminated in Q1, Gasly qualified only 17th in 2022. It was the first time that the Frenchman qualified outside of the top five at Imola, as well as the first time he was out-qualified by a team-mate at the track.
He reached Q2 in 2024 but was once again out-qualified by his team-mate. Starting 1th, he finished one place further down, despite passing Valtteri Bottas on the penultimate lap.
PIERRE GASLY’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
WON |
4 |
4 |
DNF |
– |
2021 |
WON |
5 |
5 |
7 |
-2 |
2022 |
LOST |
17 |
17 |
12 |
5 |
2024 |
LOST |
15 |
15 |
16 |
-1 |
Jack DOOHAN
Jack Doohan raced at Imola in Formula 2 in 2022. He qualified third for the Feature Race. After finishing 11th in the Sprint, a collision on the opening lap of the Feature put an early end to his race.
Esteban OCON
Esteban Ocon has scored only once at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with a ninth place finish in 2021. He retired from the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, suffering a gearbox issue. He went on to finish 14th in both 2022 and 2024.
2021 is also the only time that Ocon has reached Q3 here, having been eliminated in Q2 in both 2020 and 2024 and failing to make it out of Q1 in 2022.
Before the 2020 Imola race, Ocon last appeared at the circuit in the FIA F3 European Championship in 2014. He started from the front row in all three races, winning the first race from pole position and finishing fourth and third in the other two events.
ESTEBAN OCON’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
LOST |
12 |
12 |
DNF |
– |
2021 |
WON |
9 |
9 |
9 |
0 |
2022 |
LOST |
16 |
16 |
14 |
2 |
2024 |
WON |
12 |
12 |
14 |
-2 |
Ollie BEARMAN
Ollie Bearman has plenty of past experience at Imola. He won on three of his nine appearances at Imola across the 2020 and 2021 Italian F4 Championship seasons. Bearman had three point-less races at the track in Formula 3 in 2022. In 2024, he retuned to Imola with Formula 2, finishing fifth in the Sprint Race. Bearman appeared in Free Practice 1 at the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with the Haas team.
Liam LAWSON
Yuki Tsunoda scored points at Imola for the first time in 2022, finishing in seventh place. He scored a further point in 2024, securing a tenth place finish. He holds a 100% finish rate at the track, having finished 12th in the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
2024 was the first time Tsunoda made it out of Q1 at Imola and he did so by qualifying in the top ten. Out-qualifying his team-mate for a second time at the track, he qualified seventh.
Although he was out in Q1 in 2022, he did make up positions in the Sprint in 2022 to ultimately start 12th. Tsunoda gained at least five places in both of the first two Grands Prix which he competed in at the track before losing three positions from where he started in 2024.
YUKI TSUNODA’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2021 |
LOST |
20 |
20 |
12 |
8 |
2022 |
WON |
12 |
12 |
7 |
5 |
2024 |
WON |
7 |
7 |
10 |
-3 |
Isack HADJAR
Isack Hadjar has raced at Imola in Formula Regional, Formula 3 and Formula 2. He made his Formula Regional debut at the track in 2021, finishing seventh and 12th in the two races.
In 2022, in Formula 3, Hadjar recorded two top five finishes, benefiting from a late race collision between Ollie Bearman and Gregoire Saucy in the Feature Race to record a podium finish.
In 2024, Hadjar was eliminated from the Formula 2 Sprint Race in a multi-car collision. He went on to win the next day, taking a second Feature Race victory in a row.
Carlos SAINZ
Carlos Sainz finished in the points on both F1 outings at Imola in 2020 and 2021 but failed to finish the race in 2022. Sainz’s best result here is fifth place, first recorded in 2021 and repeated in 2024.
The Spaniard recorded his best Imola qualifying result in 2022 after finishing fourth in the Saturday sprint race. He reached Q3 in 2020, 2022 and 2024 but was eliminated in Q2 in 2021, setting the 11th fastest time. 2024 marked his second top five qualifying result at the track.
Sainz is yet to out-qualify a team-mate at this circuit. He is the only driver who has not out-qualified his team-mate at any of the last four Imola races.
CARLOS SAINZ’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
LOST |
10 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
2021 |
LOST |
11 |
11 |
5 |
6 |
2022 |
LOST |
4 |
4 |
DNF |
– |
2024 |
LOST |
5 |
4 |
5 |
-1 |
Alex ALBON
Alex Albon is yet to score from his previous three appearances at Imola. He was running in the points with Red Bull in the closing stages of the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but finished only 15th after spinning. He recorded a better result in 2022 with Williams, coming home in 11th place. In 2024, he recorded his first DNF at Imola. A botched pit stop saw him use the race as an extended test session, before the team eventually called time on his afternoon.
Qualifying six places ahead of Logan Sargeant, 2024 was the first time that Albon out-qualified a team-mate at Imola. He was out-qualified by Max Verstappen in 2020 before suffering a brake fire in Q1 at the last race here in 2022. He reached Q3 in 2020, qualifying in sixth place.
While Albon lost nine positions from where he started in 2020, he gained seven places in the 2022 race.
ALEX ALBON’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2020 |
LOST |
6 |
6 |
15 |
-9 |
2022 |
– |
18 |
18 |
11 |
7 |
2024 |
WON |
14 |
14 |
DNF |
– |
Nico HULKENBERG
The 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was Nico Hulkenberg’s first time racing at Imola in Formula 1 machinery. The circuit re-joined the calendar in 2020, one year after Hulkenberg’s previous full season in the sport.
On his first appearance, Hulkenberg out-qualified his Haas team-mate and reached Q3, qualifying tenth. He gained two places at the start of the race but was undercut by Yuki Tsunoda and eventually finished just outside of the points in 11th.
NICO HULKENBERG’S IMOLA HISTORY
Quali Battle |
Qualified |
Grid |
Finished |
Pos Change |
|
2024 |
WON |
10 |
10 |
11 |
-1 |
Gabriel BORTOLETO
Gabriel Bortoleto raced at Imola in the Italian F4 Championship in 2020. In six races at the track that year, he recorded four top eight finishes – with a best result of seventh.
Bortoleto made his Formula Regional European Championship debut at Imola in 2021, where he scored points in the first race of the season with a ninth place finish. He raced here again in 2022, finishing on the podium in the second race.
Two years later, Bortoleto returned to Imola in Formula 2, where he secured pole position. After finishing sixth in the Sprint Race, Bortoleto lost places at the start of the Feature Race but recovered to second place, finishing just half a second away from race winner Isack Hadjar.
