F1 2025 Italian Grand Prix Review (Undercutters Ep35 transcript)
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the 35th Undercutters podcast, looking back at the Italian Grand Prix. I’m Morris, and I’ve just got a cold, so apologies if things sound worse than usual.
Could Norris reduce the damage he suffered with a rare reliability failure at the Dutch Grand Prix? Could Ferrari bounce back from a double DNF to glory at home?
At the sharp end, Verstappen put in a great lap to claim pole ahead of Norris by less than a tenth of a second. Piastri and Leclerc formed up on row two, with Russell and Antonelli on the third row. Good result for the Italian driver who really needs a steady weekend. Bortoleto and Alonso started on the fourth row, with Tsunoda and Hamilton last of the top 10. Hamilton would’ve been 5th but had a 5 place grid penalty for not slowing enough under yellow flags in Zandvoort.
The formation lap saw Hulkenberg record a DNS as he had to box and retire the car.
Off the line, Verstappen was a little sluggish and had to go wide to keep the lead. At the team’s instruction, he gave up the place to Norris on lap 2. Behind, lap 1 saw Leclerc pass Piastri and then Piastri reclaim the place. Lap 2 had Leclerc pass Piastri again, holding on for a few laps before the Aussie retook it once more.
Antonelli had a poor start, tumbling from 6th to 10th.
Norris wasn’t pulling away from Verstappen. And, on lap 4, the Red Bull driver made his move, passing Norris and then driving away. This was the way of the race, Verstappen never looked under threat and was faster than the McLarens all day long. Gaps started opening up among the top drivers, and Leclerc fell back from Piastri. Russell got close to Leclerc but was unable to make a move.
The medium tyres looked good and many drivers tried to extend their stints.
Bortoleto had kept Alonso at bay for the first 20 odd laps but when they boxed together the Spaniard closed on the Brazilian towards the line, and was able to get ahead by the time they emerged. Smart move from the wily Alonso, which was undone a few laps later when his curse came back and his car broke down.
Late on, Sainz had passed Bearman when the two tangled. You could argue it was a racing incident. The Williams was far ahead of the Haas and did not leave him room. But, for my money, Bearman was too far back to deserve it and he was the cause of the collision, which earned him a 10s penalty from the stewards. He was just barely close enough for Sainz to cause the contact when he turned in.
There was some weird late drama when Norris deferred pit stop priority to Piastri to help him fend off Leclerc. Norris stopped the next lap but it was weirdly slow at nearly 6s, which meant Piastri was just ahead of him. The team asked Piastri to let Norris past, which he did.
Verstappen, meanwhile, laughed at the McLaren antics over the radio and cruised to an impressive, if not very exciting, victory. Norris and Piastri joined him on the podium.
The single stop and difficulty passing meant that while gaps opened up amid the top four or five, most of the rest were in a DRS train.
It was interesting that Norris allowed Piastri to get preference for pitting to help stay ahead of Leclerc. This then played into Norris’ slow stop and Piastri complying with the order to let Norris past. It’s easier to be gracious when you retain a lead of 31 points, more than a race win, but it shows just why McLaren might be able to keep two number 1 drivers, if they can be even-handed. This also gave us the brief prospect of a McLaren battle but Norris was clearly quicker and broke DRS within a lap or so.
The pace of the Red Bull was interesting. In Suzuka, Verstappen had an amazing qualifying to grab pole then just stayed ahead on a track that was almost impossible for overtaking. This was very different. He lost the lead, reclaimed it with a solid pass on Norris, and then just drove away. By the end, he was nearly a pit stop ahead of the McLarens and looked in no danger of losing the win.
Ferrari will be a bit disappointed not to be on the podium but they were never in with a shot at it. Verstappen and the McLarens were too far ahead, although Leclerc did end up only a few seconds off Piastri. Hamilton drove well to recover from 10th to 6th. Russell was the meat in the Ferrari sandwich and had a similar experience in the race.
Albon and Bortoleto both had a splendid time, aided perhaps by Alonso’s misfortune. More good points and Albon extends Williams’ lead in the midfield fight. Antonelli would’ve been 8th but his 5s penalty for driving erratically put him down in 9th. Despite that, a pretty good weekend for the Italian, who needed something a bit more settled. However, Albon finishing ahead means the Thai driver is now 7th in the standings, ahead of Antonelli.
The last point fell to Hadjar, who went from a pit lane start to the points. Good day for him.
Atrocious luck for two of the best midfield drivers: Hulkenberg and Alonso. Hulkenberg had a hydraulic failure on the formation lap, while Alonso broke his suspension running over a kerb. Hard to say where Hulkenberg would’ve finished but Alonso was well in the points, ahead of Bortoleto.
Incidentally, if the race review is a little briefer than usual that’s partly because I’m off-colour, and partly because it wasn’t the most thrilling race of the year.
The pointless prediction for Aston Martin was looking very iffy. Alonso really should’ve finished about 7th or 8th but his suspension let him down. It did make my prediction correct, though, so it’s not all bad news.
There are only eight races left, so while the title battle is still in the balance things remain firmly in Piastri’s favour. He’s still more than a race win ahead of Norris.
IndyCar driver Colton Herta has been hired by Cadillac as their F1 test driver for 2026, backing up the highly experienced race driver pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. This is a pretty clear indication he may end up in a race seat in the next few years.
Herta’s also intending to move from IndyCar into F2, where it’s easier to earn the superlicence points needed to be eligible for an F1 seat. Neither Bottas nor Perez will be with the team for the long term due to their age, and Herta’s appointment as reserve driver plus his aspiration to enter F2 make it pretty clear he wants to be racing in F1 sooner rather than later. This will perhaps add a little more pressure to Bottas and Perez, as neither will want to be seen as the obvious guy to throw overboard if Herta looks like a good prospect.
Pierre Gasly has signed a new contract extension with Alpine, for whom he will drive until at least the end of the 2028 season. It’s a good move for Alpine, as Gasly is a very talented driver, but I hope for Gasly’s sake they can improve from this year.
And the contract for the Monaco Grand Procession has been extended until 2035. Hooray.
On a serious note, I was glad to see that they actually tried something new this year to make the race a race, and while the 2 stop approach didn’t work it does at least show they recognise the problem. But Monaco remains my least favourite race and if it doesn’t become an event instead of a procession then it should be tossed in the bin.
Thank you all for listening. The next episode will be looking ahead to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which can be a little steady or utterly chaotic.
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Could Norris reduce the damage he suffered with a rare reliability failure at the Dutch Grand Prix? Could Ferrari bounce back from a double DNF to glory at home?
Italian Grand Prix Qualifying 00m29s
Qualifying in Monza this year was ultra-close. It was a surprise to see both Racing Bulls out in Q1, and both Williams out in Q2. Less surprising was Bortoleto making Q3, but Hulkenberg’s 12th was rather good for him this year. The German was 9th in the standings but has never made Q3, which is rather odd.At the sharp end, Verstappen put in a great lap to claim pole ahead of Norris by less than a tenth of a second. Piastri and Leclerc formed up on row two, with Russell and Antonelli on the third row. Good result for the Italian driver who really needs a steady weekend. Bortoleto and Alonso started on the fourth row, with Tsunoda and Hamilton last of the top 10. Hamilton would’ve been 5th but had a 5 place grid penalty for not slowing enough under yellow flags in Zandvoort.
Race Review 1m28s
The top 13 drivers and Colapinto were all on the medium tyre, with Lawson starting soft and the rest on the hard tyre. Hadjar and Gasly both opted for pit lane starts.The formation lap saw Hulkenberg record a DNS as he had to box and retire the car.
Off the line, Verstappen was a little sluggish and had to go wide to keep the lead. At the team’s instruction, he gave up the place to Norris on lap 2. Behind, lap 1 saw Leclerc pass Piastri and then Piastri reclaim the place. Lap 2 had Leclerc pass Piastri again, holding on for a few laps before the Aussie retook it once more.
Antonelli had a poor start, tumbling from 6th to 10th.
Norris wasn’t pulling away from Verstappen. And, on lap 4, the Red Bull driver made his move, passing Norris and then driving away. This was the way of the race, Verstappen never looked under threat and was faster than the McLarens all day long. Gaps started opening up among the top drivers, and Leclerc fell back from Piastri. Russell got close to Leclerc but was unable to make a move.
The medium tyres looked good and many drivers tried to extend their stints.
Bortoleto had kept Alonso at bay for the first 20 odd laps but when they boxed together the Spaniard closed on the Brazilian towards the line, and was able to get ahead by the time they emerged. Smart move from the wily Alonso, which was undone a few laps later when his curse came back and his car broke down.
Late on, Sainz had passed Bearman when the two tangled. You could argue it was a racing incident. The Williams was far ahead of the Haas and did not leave him room. But, for my money, Bearman was too far back to deserve it and he was the cause of the collision, which earned him a 10s penalty from the stewards. He was just barely close enough for Sainz to cause the contact when he turned in.
There was some weird late drama when Norris deferred pit stop priority to Piastri to help him fend off Leclerc. Norris stopped the next lap but it was weirdly slow at nearly 6s, which meant Piastri was just ahead of him. The team asked Piastri to let Norris past, which he did.
Verstappen, meanwhile, laughed at the McLaren antics over the radio and cruised to an impressive, if not very exciting, victory. Norris and Piastri joined him on the podium.
Highlights and Lowlights 4m08s
It’s fair to say that Monza was not a classic. There was frenetic activity in the early laps, with good battles between Norris and Verstappen, and also Leclerc and Piastri. However, once things settled down there wasn’t much action at the sharp end, although Hamilton did make some decent progress, and a few others, like Albon, made headway.The single stop and difficulty passing meant that while gaps opened up amid the top four or five, most of the rest were in a DRS train.
It was interesting that Norris allowed Piastri to get preference for pitting to help stay ahead of Leclerc. This then played into Norris’ slow stop and Piastri complying with the order to let Norris past. It’s easier to be gracious when you retain a lead of 31 points, more than a race win, but it shows just why McLaren might be able to keep two number 1 drivers, if they can be even-handed. This also gave us the brief prospect of a McLaren battle but Norris was clearly quicker and broke DRS within a lap or so.
The pace of the Red Bull was interesting. In Suzuka, Verstappen had an amazing qualifying to grab pole then just stayed ahead on a track that was almost impossible for overtaking. This was very different. He lost the lead, reclaimed it with a solid pass on Norris, and then just drove away. By the end, he was nearly a pit stop ahead of the McLarens and looked in no danger of losing the win.
Ferrari will be a bit disappointed not to be on the podium but they were never in with a shot at it. Verstappen and the McLarens were too far ahead, although Leclerc did end up only a few seconds off Piastri. Hamilton drove well to recover from 10th to 6th. Russell was the meat in the Ferrari sandwich and had a similar experience in the race.
Albon and Bortoleto both had a splendid time, aided perhaps by Alonso’s misfortune. More good points and Albon extends Williams’ lead in the midfield fight. Antonelli would’ve been 8th but his 5s penalty for driving erratically put him down in 9th. Despite that, a pretty good weekend for the Italian, who needed something a bit more settled. However, Albon finishing ahead means the Thai driver is now 7th in the standings, ahead of Antonelli.
The last point fell to Hadjar, who went from a pit lane start to the points. Good day for him.
Atrocious luck for two of the best midfield drivers: Hulkenberg and Alonso. Hulkenberg had a hydraulic failure on the formation lap, while Alonso broke his suspension running over a kerb. Hard to say where Hulkenberg would’ve finished but Alonso was well in the points, ahead of Bortoleto.
Incidentally, if the race review is a little briefer than usual that’s partly because I’m off-colour, and partly because it wasn’t the most thrilling race of the year.
Italian Grand Prix Predictions Assessment 7m05s
My predictions for Italy were pretty good, overall. I got the pole and win wrong, as I underestimated Red Bull and Verstappen badly, but Norris did end up 2nd as predicted. Third I had as Leclerc, when it was actually Piastri. Both of my midfield points predictions came off, with Albon and Bortoleto scoring nicely.The pointless prediction for Aston Martin was looking very iffy. Alonso really should’ve finished about 7th or 8th but his suspension let him down. It did make my prediction correct, though, so it’s not all bad news.
F1 2025 Standings after Italian Grand Prix 7m44s
After the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri’s lead over Norris has been reduced by 3 points to 31. Down the order, Albon’s on 70 points in 7th, with Antonelli down to 8th with 66 points. And Hadjar’s solitary point puts him one ahead of Hulkenberg, in 9th and 10th respectively.There are only eight races left, so while the title battle is still in the balance things remain firmly in Piastri’s favour. He’s still more than a race win ahead of Norris.
F1 News 8m 15s
F1 news.IndyCar driver Colton Herta has been hired by Cadillac as their F1 test driver for 2026, backing up the highly experienced race driver pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. This is a pretty clear indication he may end up in a race seat in the next few years.
Herta’s also intending to move from IndyCar into F2, where it’s easier to earn the superlicence points needed to be eligible for an F1 seat. Neither Bottas nor Perez will be with the team for the long term due to their age, and Herta’s appointment as reserve driver plus his aspiration to enter F2 make it pretty clear he wants to be racing in F1 sooner rather than later. This will perhaps add a little more pressure to Bottas and Perez, as neither will want to be seen as the obvious guy to throw overboard if Herta looks like a good prospect.
Pierre Gasly has signed a new contract extension with Alpine, for whom he will drive until at least the end of the 2028 season. It’s a good move for Alpine, as Gasly is a very talented driver, but I hope for Gasly’s sake they can improve from this year.
And the contract for the Monaco Grand Procession has been extended until 2035. Hooray.
On a serious note, I was glad to see that they actually tried something new this year to make the race a race, and while the 2 stop approach didn’t work it does at least show they recognise the problem. But Monaco remains my least favourite race and if it doesn’t become an event instead of a procession then it should be tossed in the bin.
Thank you all for listening. The next episode will be looking ahead to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which can be a little steady or utterly chaotic.
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