Formula 1: Verstappen reign supreme in Imola

 There's always plenty to talk about in the non-stop world of Formula 1, and Flashscore's Finley Crebolder gives his thoughts on the biggest stories going around the paddock in this regular column.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix very much felt like the start of a new chapter in the 2025 Formula 1 season. The battle lines had been drawn in the opening rounds of the campaign and now the circus was heading to Europe, where those battles would truly begin.

While it's exciting heading into the unknown at the start of a season, I always enjoy getting to this stage, where a pecking order has largely established itself, drivers are more comfortable with their machinery, and the narratives of the year begin to really emerge.

That was indeed the case in Imola, and these are my main takeaways from it.

New life, same Verstappen

It's often said that Formula 1 drivers slow down when they become fathers, being ever-so-slightly less willing to take risks with a child to think about. "I knew he’d hit the brakes, he has a wife and two kids at home," Fernando Alonso famously said 20 years ago after pulling off an audacious move on Michael Schumacher in Japan. If that is a rule though, Max Verstappen may be the exception to it.

The Dutchman became a father for the first time just before the Miami Grand Prix and didn't enjoy his best race in Florida, but it took him precisely one corner in Imola to make it abundantly clear that the birth of his daughter Lily isn't going to make his driving any safer or any slower.