McLaren have admitted Red Bull’s pace advantage at the F1 Emilia Romagna Grand🐓 Prix took the team by surprise.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen was narrowly beaten to pole position by 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Oscar Piastri but grabbed the lead from the McLaren driver with a spectacular around-the-outside overtake at the ജfirst corner, befo🅰re sealing a dominant win.

The four-time world champion was aided by the fortunate timing of two Safety Car periods which fell in hꦆis favour, but he also had superior pace in his Red Bull that enabled him to easily pull clear of the McಌLarens and seal his second victory of the season.

And Mc🍌Laren, who have won the other five races in 2025, did not see V𒊎erstappen’s dominance coming.

“After coming from a race like Miami, in which our pace was very strong, we knew that because of the track layout and theไ slightly different ambient conditions, this race would have been just more balanced from a race pace point of view,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said.

“We knew that it w🍨ould have be🅠en very balanced in qualifying like already we have seen in Saudi, in Japan, in these kind of fast-flowing circuits. 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, 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 episo♑de, or just a swap of position between Oscar and Max in corner one.

“After that we tried to chase him but effectively we didn’t ha♏ve enough race pace today to be able to beat Max [after] taking the lead after lap one.”

Stella pinpointed two key factors for Red🐓 Bull’s impressive competitiveness in Sunday’s grand prix at Imola.

“I think what’s happeni൲ng today is a combination of 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,” he explained.

“And then if we look at the speed of the corners and we compare with the speed in Miami, it’s a completely different regi🌄me. The car operates in a completely different part of the aerodynamic maps.

“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 Imola൲, I don’t think we enjoy any particular advantage.

“So the track layout, the progress of Red Bull, I th꧂ink they are the two factors that meant that we didn’t have much advantage today.”

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris, who finished se🔯cond to c⭕ut teammate Piastri’s championship lead down to 13 points, believes McLaren’s lack of pace compared with Verstappen “shows how quickly things can change”.

"Oscar put in a very good lap to get polꦚe, [but] on average Max was quicker and it just turned out that this track, with the degradation of this tracꦚk, therefore suited them," he said.

"We had a bit more rear degradation rather than overheating and things like t♚hat, it was more just rear deg and that seems to be where the Red Bull is still very, very strong in these slow speed corners.

“We know that, we've said it the whole y🙈ear. We aren't getting complacent because we know how good they can be at times when things click and when they get it right, they're ahead, and that's the way it was today.

"We just have 💝to keep working, nothing more to say than that. We need to keep our heads down, working on ourse💎lves and keep doing what we're doing."

Red Bull’s pace advantage took Verstappen by surprise

Verstappen is now just 22 points behind Piastri in the championship after eꦐnding the Australian’s run of three consecu♛tive victories.

The Dutchman admitted he did not expect Red B🍒ull to be so strong, especially after starting the weekend on the back ꦓfoot with a difficult Friday.

“We still had to show that we had the pace and luckily the car felt a lo💞t more together and I ಞcould push quite nicely,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.

“Thꦅat made me look after the tyres quite well, for once. That was a lot more how I would like. For me it was a bit unexpected that we had this kind of pace today.”

He added: ”It's very track specific. I mean, every time that we have been really compಌetitive, it's been high-speed tracks, high-speed corners. We still have work to do, but I do think it's been a very positive weekend for us.

"Friday was very difficult still, but then I think ♕we found a better set-up for Saturday. And I jusಞt hope that we can use that a bit more often because it definitely brought the car in a better window."