Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the team considered using the harder medium compound tyres to increase its chance of taking pole position at Imola.
Max Verstappen missed out on taking pole position by just three hundredths of a second. He and pole-winner Oscar Piastri both used the soft tyre compound for their final runs.Horner said the C5 medium compound potentially offered a better lap time at Imola than the C6 soft. However as the team have too few sets of the harder tyres available to consider running them in qualifying.
“We looked at it and we [decided] let’s see how the first run goes on the soft,” said Horner. “We thought the medium would be quicker, that was for sure, because it just is more robust over the entire lap.
“Now, you only have one [set] of them. There was only Aston Martin that took two into qualifying.
“What you use today costs you tomorrow. So that was the debate.”
The team decided to stick with a conventional approach, knowing it would give them better strategic options for the race.
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“The first run, we were sitting on the provisional pole. Max was reasonably happy with the car.
“We decided not to burn that tyre today but keep it in the rack for tomorrow. I think we need every bit of performance to try and take on the McLarens tomorrow.”
Although Imola is regarded as a circuit where overtaking is difficult, Horner believes Verstappen has
a chance to fight Piastri for victory.
“He’s got a great opportunity tomorrow,” he said. “It’s important to get a good start.
“You can overtake here, we’ve seen that DRS is quite powerful on the run down to turn one. So you’ve got to get your head down and try and get ahead.”
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2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
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- Ferrari struggling to recreate set-up which “worked well” in Shanghai – Hamilton
- Verstappen told Red Bull to use Tsunoda before “hold him up” call
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- “Plan C?”: Why McLaren only got their strategy right for one driver at Imola
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
17th May 2025, 18:12
You have to go along the track here though, you can’t use the run-off to take the lead.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
18th May 2025, 12:55
haha