AWS Gran Premio del Made in Italy e Dell'Emilia-Romagna
Location: Imola, Italy
Course: Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari
Course Length: 4.91km
Laps: 63
Race Preview
McLaren continued their show of strength last time out at Miami where Oscar Piastri scored his third race win in a row and fourth of the season. Piastri now leads the championship standings by 16 points over teammate Lando Norris with Max Verstappen a further 16 points behind Norris. However, McLaren's advantage isn't what it used to be as Verstappen and Red Bull Racing have been slowly closing the gap. Verstappen is now able to consistently beat the McLaren pairing over a single lap as evidenced by his winning pole position in three of the last four races. However, the McLaren is still better over a long run. That strength is exactly what helped propel Piastri to the victory in Miami and what he hopes will be another this week at Imola.
Red Bull, and the rest of the contenders, will be working hard to catch him, though. Verstappen won the last three races at Imola with two of those victories coming from pole position, and don't count out Mercedes. George Russell returned to the podium last time out while teammate Kimi Antonelli has been showing signs of speed recently, too. With everything to play for, the series heads to Europe for a three-race stretch on their home continent, opening the window for more rapid chassis development opportunity.
Key Stats at Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari
- Races: 31
- Winners from pole: 11
- Winners from top-5 starters: 31
- Winners from top-10 starters: 31
- Winners from 21st or lower starters: 0
- Fastest race: 217.077kph
Previous 10 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Winners
2024 - Max Verstappen
2022 - Max Verstappen
2021 - Max Verstappen
2020 - Lewis Hamilton
2006 - Michael Schumacher
2005 - Fernando Alonso
2004 - Michael Schumacher
2003 - Michael Schumacher
2002 - Michael Schumacher
2001 - Ralf Schumacher
The historic Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, also known as Imola, is the site of this week's stop on the Formula 1 championship. The circuit is a traditional road course with a narrow surface and natural terrain hills and valleys and marks the completion of the first quarter of the season. The track first appeared on the calendar in 1980 and has been a regular stop since. Over time the circuit has evolved for safety, but its character still largely remains. There are elevation changes, chicanes, and narrow turns that make passing a challenge and track position critical. No driver has ever started lower than fifth and won this race, and that will place supreme importance on getting everything you can out of qualifying. With just one DRS zone, opportunities to make up positions will mostly come through pit and tire strategy, which Pirelli hopes to shake up with an even softer tire compound and bigger steps between compound choices over the weekend. The race tends to be a single-stop effort, but Pirelli's efforts to encourage different strategies could encourage some teams to alter that trend. Still, the track's narrow width and many tight turns make overtaking a tough proposition, which just puts the pressure on Saturday's qualifying.
DraftKings Value Picks (Based on $50k Salary Cap)
DraftKings Tier 1 Values
Oscar Piastri - $13,400
Lando Norris - $13,000
Max Verstappen - $11,600
DraftKings Tier 2 Values
George Russell - $10,600
Charles Leclerc - $9,800
Lewis Hamilton - $9,200
Kimi Antonelli - $8,200
DraftKings Tier 3 Values
Yuki Tsunoda - $5,600
Carlos Sainz Jr. - $5,400
Isack Hadjar - $4,600
DraftKings Constructor Values
McLaren - $15,500
Mercedes - $10,100
Ferrari - $9,500
Formula 1 DFS Picks for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
Team Captain - Oscar Piastri - $20,100
Yuki Tsunoda - $5.600
Carlos Sainz Jr. - $5,400
Isack Hadjar - $4,600
Fernando Alonso - $4,400
Constructor - Red Bull Racing - $9,900
With the McLaren car being in a class of its own, and Oscar Piastri extracting the most from it, the team captain choice, while expensive, is relatively obvious. Piastri has been on a tear with three consecutive wins and he now leads the championship standings. He finished fourth at Imola last season. Qualifying will be important ahead of this week's race given the challenge of passing, but even if Piastri doesn't start on the front row, deploying the right tire strategy would give him the opportunity to get out front. His closest competition for both pole and the race win will likely come from Max Verstappen and teammate Lando Norris, but Piastri has shown the composure to put those threats to bed multiple times already this season.
Given Piastri's price at the top of the order, fantasy rosters will have to dig deeper for the rest of their selections. While Yuki Tsunoda is still trying to figure out the challenging Red Bull car, he is showing signs of progress. He has scored points and is showing lap times more on par with teammate Verstappen than Liam Lawson was able. After crashing last time out at Miami, Tsunoda arrives at Imola where he has raced three times with two finishes of 10th or better. He is capable of scoring points again this weekend with a clean race. Carlos Sainz Jr. is another veteran worth consideration. He is getting more comfortable with Williams each week and heads into this race after scoring points the last two race weekends. Sainz has four prior Imola starts with two fifth-place finishes as his best.
Further down the price list, fantasy players should consider Isack Hadjar. This week's race will be his first Formula 1 contest at Imola, but he has had success at the track in other outings. Hadjar won his first Formula 2 feature race at the track and has had a few other podium finishes in other series there, too. More importantly, Hadjar has been improving from week to week. After a dismal start at Melbourne, Hadjar finished 11th or better in four of the five subsequent races. His best result was eighth at Japan, a track that should compare favorably to Imola for him. Lastly, Fernando Alonso will be hoping this familiar circuit gives him a boost back to form. From the six races run so far, Alonso has two 11th-place finishes. After another difficult weekend at Miami, the former champion will likely be grateful to head to a circuit he stood on the podium twice at. He is a former winner at Imola, and his track history could help spur him to his best finish of the season so far.
The prior roster selections allow the right amount of salary space remaining to take Red Bull Racing as constructor. Choosing Red Bull gives fantasy players access to Verstappen, who could be a potential race winner. The car's single-lap pace has been better than McLaren's, but work continues on a full race distance. The team is expected to continue their development evolution this week, which could help close the gap to Piastri and Norris even further. Pole positions and faster race pace have been evident, and the cooler temperatures this week in Italy should help the car even more in this week's race.
Formula 1 Betting Picks for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook as of 1:00 PM ET Thursday
Race Winner - Oscar Piastri +150, Max Verstappen +400
Top-Four Finish - Kimi Antonelli +275
Pole Position - Max Verstappen +260
Oscar Piastri's run of form, plus his current championship lead, suggest that he will be McLaren's main contender this week. He has been quick in qualifying and consistent through races. Those two aspects have helped him to four wins already this season. Given this week's course, a front-row start is almost a must-have to be in contention for the win. If Piastri continues to execute like has been, he will likely be there. Strong competition should be expected from Max Verstappen, though. The reigning champion and race winner has been able to snag pole positions and he has has the last two at Imola. If Verstappen sneaks pole in this week, he could be in store for another win like we saw at Suzuka, which is another track where it is difficult to pass.
Kimi Antonelli has been improving. He is finding his way nicely alongside George Russell, and with a little cleaner execution, he should be in store for some top finishes. Fourth place should be within reach this week. He will have the benefit of some Mercedes upgrades this race to help him, too. As other teams begin to put more focus on 2026 developments, it sounds like Mercedes is going to continue getting the most out of 2025, which should help give Antonelli that little extra edge that he needs to move up the finishing order.
Finally, as mentioned a few times, Max Verstappen continues to be one of the fastest drivers over a single lap. The Red Bull driver has three poles already this season and should be in the fight for another this week. He started from the top spot in the last two Imola races, has additional upgrades expected with the car this week, and knows that having the top spot for Sunday could give him the advantage he needs to score his second race win of the season. Verstappen is going to be giving everything he has to get the job done on Saturday so he can have a shot at the trophy on Sunday.
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