After a week off we are back in action for the first European triple header of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship season.
After piling up the frequent flyer points over the last two months, the teams will be happy to be back in Europe and looking to improve some of the early season shortcomings on their cars.
One team that has very few areas to improve on will be Mclaren who have doubled up all but one other team already and both of their drivers sit on top of the individual standings as well.
This weekend brings us to the historic Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola for the fifth staging of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with Max Verstappen hoping to claw his way back into the World Championship race by taking out maximum points this weekend.
Find out who we are backing in our preview and best bets below.
Track Stats
- Direction: Anti-Clockwise
- Lap Distance: 4.909km
- Total Laps: 63
- Race Distance: 309.049km
- Lap Record: 1:15.484 (Lewis Hamilton, MER, 2020)
- 2024 Podium: Max Verstappen (RBR), Lando Norris (MCL), Charles Leclerc (FER)
- Most Event Wins: Max Verstappen (2021, 2022, 2024)
Race Winner
At this point of the season, it is a case of back against McLaren at your own peril because when the lights go out, no other team has been able to get close to them.
Perhaps there will be some upgrades to the Red Bulls or Mercedes that might bridge the gap, or maybe one of the Ferrari drivers can overcome what is clearly a tough car to drive.
But is any of that really worth backing even at a much higher price?
Not without some sort of variable coming into play and that just requires way too much speculation.
Instead, let’s just stick with the Aussie Oscar Piastri to continue his red hot form and win his fourth race in a row.
It might be boring but sometimes it’s ok to be a bit predictable.
Oscar Piastri to Win @ $2.25
Winning Margin
While Piastri has been doing what is necessary to finish on top of the standings, his wins have not exactly been dominant cruises to the finish line.
In Miami he was 4.6 seconds ahead of Lando Norris, his drive in Saudi Arabia was enough for a 2.8 second winning margin and Bahrain produced the biggest winning margin of the season at 15.5 seconds.
If nothing else his teammate Lando Norris will likely keep him just close enough to stop this being a big win, even if the team orders won’t let Norris properly push for victory.
0-5.999 seconds @ $1.73
Podium Finish
While the two McLarens were dominating the race, there was a decent battle for the third spot on the podium in Miami and it might be worth paying attention to here.
George Russell has a bad record at Imola, with his best finish coming in 2022 with a fourth place in a much better car.
Otherwise he has two retirements, plus the fourth and a seventh place last year.
Compare that to Max Verstappen who retired in 2020, but went on to win the next three races at this venue.
He might be battling a car that is not at the level of previous years but the man can drive.
Max Verstappen Podium Finish @ $1.85
Podium Finish
Sadly, it appears as though the market has caught up to some of the surprise storylines of the season, with both Williams drivers now at $1.30 to finish in the points.
There is some value to be had on the duo of Esteban Ocon and Isack Hadjar who have been there or thereabouts in recent races and are worth a play at over even money.
Meanwhile for a long shot, Australia might not have loved seeing Jack Doohan booted by Alpine but his replacement Franco Colapinto is at a decent price and is worth a speculative play.
Esteban Ocon Points Finish @ $2.75
Isack Hadjar Points Finish @ $2.88
Franco Colapinto Points Finish @ $4.50
Number of Classified Finishers
18 is the magic number of finishers in this market and although the weather is forecast to be clear, we could still see a few retirements.
Perhaps it is the punters’ jinx coming in to play but we have only seen one race without a retirement this season so far and that trend could well continue here.
Under 17.5 Finishers @ $2.60
Same Race Multi
Piastri and Verstappen Podium, Leclerc Top 6 and Ocon Points @ $9.73