From Max Verstappen’s decisive first-lap move that set the tone for Red Bull’s resurgence, to McLaren’s missed opportunities and Mercedes’ struggles in the heat, the Emilia-Romagna GP offered plenty of talking points.

As the European leg of the Formula 1 season kicks off, here’s what we learned from an eventful and revealing weekend at Imola.

McLaren can’t allow itself to give Verstappen any chances

It’s quite obvious to everybody at this point that Verstappen will take every opportunity he is given, or will create the opportunity for himself even when it doesn’t appear to exist. His pass on Piastri at the start was a good example of that, and it paid off handsomely for the Red Bull star.

Verstappen himself admitted that his overtake around the outside of Piastri going into the Villeneuve chicane was an all-or-nothing move, but it says something about the Dutchman’s current form that he managed to pull it off brilliantly and without incident.

From there, it was pretty much plain sailing for Verstappen, and not even a late safety car period threatened his position, as he was quickly able to grow his lead over the McLarens.

For the papaya squad, this one must have hurt more than the Japanese GP, where the team looked to have the potential to beat Verstappen, had it optimised the performance of its cars and drivers. At Imola, it was the world champion who had the upper hand, and the way he quickly left Piastri and Norris behind after the late restart was proof that the Red Bull driver was the quicker man.

The updates Red Bull introduced at Imola have apparently given the RB20 a wider ideal operating window that made things much easier for Verstappen, and that is obviously bad news for McLaren, which is still unsure which of its drivers is the main championship challenger.

The conditions at Imola were similar to those in Miami, but the roles were reversed, with the Red Bull looking like the car to beat. Whether that’s the trend in the next two races, only time will tell, but Verstappen’s showing in Italy will have served as a warning for McLaren.

Ferrari’s season is now a salvage job

Lewis Hamilton‘s fourth place at Imola saved Ferrari from an embarrassing weekend at home, but even then, there was no hiding from the fact that the result flattered the car’s performance.

After a deserved double Q2 exit for Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, Sunday’s race helped Ferrari disguise what, for the most part, looked like another sub-par weekend.

Hamilton benefited from the timing of the virtual safety car and the safety car to score a season-best result on Sunday, while Leclerc was the miserable Ferrari driver over the weekend and was left exposed after the late restart, having no new tyres to use when everybody around him was on fresher sets.

At this point, Ferrari will have to accept that it can’t dream of being a championship contender, and 2025 will be about trying to find answers to its shortcomings.

A big suspension update later in the year might help the Maranello squad with that, but as it stands right now, Ferrari will be thankful to be leading the midfield pack.

Mercedes continues to dislike the heat

Tyre degradation and temperature control continues to be a problem Mercedes has no answer for, and one that is likely to cause more headaches as the end of spring/start of summer creeps in in Europe.

George Russell went from having a great start from third on the grid to being nowhere by the end of the race, highlighting once again how much Mercedes is struggling with tyre management when track temperatures are high.

Russell’s problems after a strong qualifying were so bad that he even thought his car had some sort of issue.

“It was a disastrous day,” the Briton said. “I had no pace and I was glad to see the chequered flag. We knew it was going to be challenging.

“Right now I don’t have any answers. In terms of pace it was probably the worst day we’ve had as a team in a couple of years in terms of pace.”

Adding to its issues, local hero Kimi Antonelli had an underwhelming weekend and retired with a throttle issue.

Red Bull hasn’t gained anything with its driver changes

It has been five races since Yuki Tsunoda took over Liam Lawson‘s seat at Red Bull, and the Japanese driver has been outscored 88-7 by team-mate Verstappen in that time, leaving the Dutchman alone in the team’s fight with Mercedes and Ferrari for second in the standings.

What’s perhaps more worrying for Red Bull is that Tsunoda hasn’t showed an awful lot of progress, and his huge crash during qualifying at Imola was, in his own words, stupid.