Here are The Gurgler’s 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Ratings – our way of rating the performances on the track without getting into trouble for swearing.
Our G-Power Rankings goes a little bit deeper than just points scored on the Sunday and has a slightly cooler name than most. We take on board Free Practice, Qualifying, performance in relation to teammate, fastest lap, and a few more stats that are attempting to highlight a driver outperforming the car and/or thrashing their teammate.
Normally we have a season long bunch of stats, but we’re saving that for the end of season review that will be way too long for anyone to want to read. Regardless, here is our shortened version for contractual obligations.
2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Race Result Summary
Here are the current overall standings for our Driver of the Year winner – the Martini Medal. Named in honour of one of F1’s most unsung heroes – Pierluigi Martini of Minardi fame.
We have the overall scores as they stand, plus a visual which shows the flow of each driver’s position throughout the season, plus a few points of interest below.
Here is the breakdown of the Driver of the Year points from the most recent race and the season so far. Remembering our ratings go across a whole weekend, so the race winner who may not have had a great qualifying or sprint race may not come out on top.
LATEST RACE RATINGS & DRIVER OF THE YEAR UPDATE
2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Ratings – Teams
This is essentially using the same drivers stats but in reverse for the worst score, but taking out anything that is a H2H between the drivers.
And our annual award focuses on the other end of the grid, highlighting the worst team of the season.
Of course, the worst team of the season award needs to be named after the worst F1 team of all time. And if you want to fund out more about Andrea Moda, follow this link.
LATEST RACE & SEASON RATINGS
Here is the best of the stats from the 2025 F1 season so far. Which we admit isn’t much, but stay tuned throughout the year for more.
H2H
Here is the ultimate H2H comparison, with the overall qualifying and race measures, plus one that calculates all official sessions across the weekend.
Franco Colapinto starts off his Alpine career by not outdoing Pierre Gasly in any session.
Max Verstappen has a perfect record for final qualifying and the race.
QUALIFYING – DRIVERS
With qualifying becoming all important, here are some key stats from the season that is.
QUALIFYING – TEAM
And some Teams trends too.
FASTEST LAP
The most random of stat to follow, but good filler.
FREE PRACTICE
Some say Free Practice is a giant waste of time, and they are probably right. Regardless here is the average position for each drivers in Free Practice this season. Each round an average of all the sessions.
1ST LAP PROGRESS
OTHER RACE STATS
Fancy knowing who has led the most laps. Or which grid position fills which position at the end of the race. Note: 99 means DNF.
2025 F1 Season Power Rankings – Points Explanation
Here’s how the points work this season. Essentially the perfect race (Win from Pole, Fastest Lap, thrash team mate, best in race etc) should amount to the perfect 100 points.
FIRST LAP GAINS +0.5pts per position gained -0.5pts per position lost.
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS – 25pts to 1pt as per World Championship – Sprint Race Points added.
BEAT TEAM MATE (RACE) – 10pts (if both finish or other driver got self inflicted DNF)
FASTEST LAP – 5pts – 1pt for top five drivers.
GRID POSITION TO RACE POSITION – formula +/- relative finish to grid
BEST OF THE REST (RACE) – 5pts to 1pt – top five non Mercedes-Red Bull drivers
QUALIFYING – 20pts to 1pt – Grid Position 1 to 20.
BEAT TEAM MATE (QUALIFYING) – 5pts
BEST OF THE REST (QUALIFYING) – 5pts to 1pt – top five non Mercedes-Red Bull drivers
GREAT/GRAPE – 5pts Great 2pts Honourable Mention -2Pts Dishonourable Mention -5Pts Grape
BEAT TEAM MATE (QUALIFYING) Time Gap – Formula for % beaten team mate by
BEAT TEAM MATE (QUALIFYING) Position – 0.5 Pts for every position team mate is beaten by. 0 points for second car.
FREE PRACTICE HERO – 10Pts to 1Pt – Average Position across all three practice sessions.
WIN FROM POLE – Bonus 5 Points
WIN FROM POLE WITH FASTEST LAP – Bonus 10 Points
DNF Not Driver or Team Fault Minus 2 Points
DNF CAUSED BY DRIVER/TEAM INCOMPETENCE Minus 5 Points
SPRINT RACE POINTS – Points 8 to 1 as handed out in the sprint race.
SPRINT RACE CHANGE – 0.5 Points per change in end position to starting position.
SPRINT RACE QUAL – Points 8 to 1 as handed out in the order of qualifying 1st to 8th.
The Gurgler loves a hero, and Greg Norman, and we have been following our hero’s adventures around the world. But slowing it down a notch, and taking on board all of Greg’s knowledge, connections and charisma, we introduce a new Greg feature – Nor-Mansplains, where Greg explains a topic as only he can do. World class and shirtless. This time he’s Nor-mansplaining the Monaco Grand Prix.
WARNING: Adult Themes and/or shirtless golfers…..
Greg Nor-mansplaining the Monaco Grand Prix.
All images above were created using the technology of Grok and the slightly warped imagination of The Gurgler writing staff, who are frequently locked in a room and told not to come out until they have come up with at least 50 barely interesting stats on a specific sport, or something that makes the Telegram group give Hardy chuckles. G, they are easy to please though. But even if you don’t like the way Twitter, also known as X, is going, you should get into their AI app Grok, which needs a Twitter / X account, and let your imagination run wild. Maybe you could come up with some Greg Norman adventures of your very own to share with family and friend.
If you enjoyed this episode of Greg Norman Vs, and are not worried about our obsession with Greg Norman, especially the fact he is usually presented as shirtless, then why not follow the links to some of our other gear below.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of the website, it’s not all about Greg Norman. We also try to bore everyone to tears with overly long and dull articles with way too many stats for the modern attention short person to care about.
The most famous race of the F1 season is here, and for all glamour, celebrities and history, it remains a pretty absurd race where the track was too small for F1 cars three decades and more ago. But that’s just the way we like it. Talking of liking, our 2025 Monaco F1 Grand Prix Prix-View should be enjoyed as part of a healthy diet.
The Gurgler’s 2025 Monaco F1 Grand Prix Prix-View brings some thoughts on the track and race itself, a more than a few barely interesting stats.
Essentially a quick summary of what a casual F1 fan needs in the shortest possible time for your convenience.
And for F1 opinion, stand by for the F1 Donkey’s Bold Predictions and Opinion.
2025 Monaco F1 Grand Prix Prix-view – Race Potential Rating
The Gurgler does like to use some obscure drivers in our Race previews and report, so who better to use than Teo Fabi to determine a race rating system.
So before each race we give a rating out of ten for four key category that are loosely based on each letter of Teo Fabi’s surname. Don’t know who Teo Fabi is, you should.
FAST? 7 / 10 – OK, it is the slowest Grand Prix in terms of average speed of a lap, but the speed these drivers do within the tight confines of the Monaco barriers makes it seem so much faster.
ACTION? 8 / 10 – It is usually a race weekend full of on track action with crashes and incidents but sadly usually very little overtaking. And now and again the races can be very processional. But the wall is close, anything can happen anytime.
BIG HISTORY? – 11 / 10 – There’s no track in F1 that is more well known and has as big a history, hosting a Grand Prix just about every season since 1950.
INCLEMENT WEATHER? – 3 /10 The Weather Channel says there’s a 30% chance of PM showers on the Friday and decreasing after that. But it is Monaco.
RACE POTENTIAL RATING 73% – It’s Monaco, and even if it is dull with no overtaking and a bore fest of fuel and tyre saving, it’s still Monaco.
2025 Monaco F1 Grand Prix Prix-view – Stats Summary
Want to know if your favourite driver for this weekend is a master of the track or the track is a master of them? Here then are some barely interesting facts and stats.
No surprise that Lance Stroll has never made Q3 at Monaco.
Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri are the only current drivers to score points in every Monaco Grand Prix they have entered.
Since 2000, the Monaco GP winner hasn’t come from lower than third position.
Driver Stats – Monaco Grand Prix
Team Stats – Monaco Grand Prix
History Stats – Monaco Grand Prix
99 = a DNF. Grid position 20 is overstated as that was also used for cars starting in pitlane. Results for bottom visual is from 2000.
Team Stats – Bonus Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying Comparison
Going back to 2021, here’s a comparison of average grid position for all races vs Monaco GP to see if anyone does outperform themselves around the streets of Monaco.
F1 2025 Season Stuff
We’ve worked hard getting ready for the 2025 F1 Season, and this is our best work below. Read it before it become too/more irrelevant.
Angrier than a room full of Fox League writers and NRL 360 hosts, slower than a Bunker decision, but with more speed than an Origin Bolter and unsuccessfully challenging the on field decisions from time to time, it’s time for the weekly Rugby League rant of The Gurgler’s NRL Donkey, who provides his NRL Donkey’s 2025 NRL Round 12 Expert Tips as well as offers an alternative, slightly unhinged view full of sass of the world of rugby league and beyond for another week.
The NRL Donkey’s 2025 NRL Round 12 Weekly Rant
Here we are then, another Origin period. Ahh, and you know it is Origin time don’t you?
No, it’s not because of the talk of Origin bolters. Nor debates about why NSW don’t pick form players, or why Queensland pick players from out of their arse.
It’s because the Warriors have a FTA TV Game on Channel Nein.
We know the draw is done at the start of the season, but does anyone really believe that Channel Nein would pick more Warriors games despite them being in the top four if they did the old six weeks in advance broadcasting picks. Well, certainly not on a Sunday afternoon. Shooter McGavin would say no, and so do we. Unlike Shooter McGavin we don’t eat pieces of shit for breakfast.
And you have to ask yourself, is it all worth it?
For the next two months and a bit the NRL we love and occasionally hate depending on which Bunker official is doing your game, or if Gerard Sutton or Ashley Klown comes anywhere your team’s game, is going to become a hibernated, half arsed version of itself.
There’s going to be weeks of five or six games, and if you’re lucky those games feature the sides going too shit to provide Origin players.
So the choice is good teams with good players out, or crap teams that have no many good players in the first place. What a choice.
And sometimes the good players will be named and not play. Or the NRL’s ridiculous draw means some will play within a few days of rugby league toughest game and be buggered. Some are super human like Payne Haas, but even he will need a rest. His shoulders sure will. He’ll be glad to go into a NSW side where he doesn’t have to do all the work.
No other sporting league on earth does this to itself.
Imaging the Formula 1 governing body put F1 on hold for a few months and take out the best eight drivers and let the teams fill them with F2 and F3 juniors. Although, they will probably beat Lance Stroll quickly. Or the Premier League spending two months with byes and player exits. Football does it properly by going on proper breaks for international tournaments and qualifying. So the best players are available for both. Those footballers just have to play 102 games a season, but they do earn the average annual wage in Australia every week, so life isn’t that tough.
And we may laugh in Australia about how US sports call themselves the World Champions despite the competition being limited to the USA and occasionally Canada, but they aren’t stupid enough to ruin their own comp like the NRL.
Then there’s the mind games and coaches with their snippy back and forths. Like a long distance game of Judge Judy without any of the excitement and sexiness of Judge Judy.
Despite being a Qld legend and somehow pulling series win out of a hat in his first series, Billy Slater’s “We’re Queenslanders” response to picking a bad side, which of course included Captain Plod, and being pantsed by the Blues was the most idiotic thing to come out of a Queensland mouth in 2024. And I shouldn’t have to remind you that this state includes Pauline Hanson and Bob Katter.
Then there’s the endless arguments about who should have made the squads, and most sides usually exclude a form player, and usually to their detriment. Like Qld in 2024 who decided that instead of the potential short term firepower of a rampaging David Fifita, they should go with the more travelator kind of option of Kurt Capewell. It didn’t end well. So one does wonder if this year’s David Fifita – Terrell May will be as costly an exclusion.
Laurie Daley seems like a thoroughly good guy, so one wonders if he is hard enough for Origin. He needs to get snippy lessons from Billy Slater, if they are available.
Finally, aside from the short weeks of shit games with no players, and late exits, and sniping, and bad press, and plodding, and all the other things that makes this two month Origin period awful, the worst is the reliance on Channel Nein to watch Origin.
Watching the Women’s Origin is passable and mainly because Peter Psaltis is the commentator, and his combination with Gus Gould actually works.
But come Men’s Origin time and Channel Nein ramp it up to 11 in their desperate struggle to appear relevant. Depending on your Origin the co-commentators are more dislikable than others. NSW fans will probably hate the arrogance of Cameron Smith, along with the same half of Qld who also secretly hate DCE. If NSW lose then there’s the prospect of putting up with a three year old tantrum from Andrew Johns, who then probably takes it out on his brother with another no talkies ban. Not everyone on Channel Nein is awful, but none of them are great. Nor is the coverage world class. And then there will be another round of those Westpac ads. And more cross promoting than a morning show.
None of that matters though. We just have to suck it up and put up with a shit competition for the next two months and six hours of unsufferable Channel Nein. You still have to ask yourself whether it is all worth it.
So I’m not ignoring the NRL and being a massive hypocrite, here are the expert tips for NRL Round 12.
The NRL Donkey’s 2025 NRL Round 12 Expert Tips
BULLDOGS v DOLPHINS
The Dolphins luck in by playing the Bulldogs in Origin mode. Although they aren’t the competition leaders for nothing. Although the one-eyed Dolphins fan in me thinks they can afford a loss. Actually a good game to start this awful Origin period.
Dolphins by 6
PARRAMATTA v MANLY
A game missing both star halfbacks. One clubs is happier than the other with that.
Parramatta by 8
PENRITH v NEWCASTLE
The question is, if you take half of the good players out of the Penrith side, is that worse than taking one of Newcastle’s best?
Penrith by 20
ROOSTERS v SHARKS
The Sharks have found the perfect mix of playing just good enough to win a lot of the time, but not good enough so none of their players get picked for State of Origin. It might lead to a complete change in club recruiting. Which is especially good news for good guy Nicho Hynes. Sharks will thrash the Roosters accordingly.
Sharks by 22
WARRIORS v CANBERRA
Channel Nein getting a taste of what the Fox League snobs get every week with a top four clash between two different but entertaining sides. It’s hard to pick a winner as both teams are so likeable. More fun to tip against Canberra as it might make Ricky Stuart angry.
It’s finally here, the five game round of NRL with depleted teams that everyone’s been waiting for. Talking of patience and other Guns N Roses song, welcome to our Jungle of 2025 NRL Round 12 Tips Predictions & Stats Preview where the tips just worse with every game.
Each week this season we offer up a quick preview glance for each match, throw in a bunch of barely interesting stats, and mix in a pinch of opinion, some spicy tips and you have a rugby league soup with probably more flavour than one could ever need or want. It’s all you can eat NRL stats.
2025 NRL Round 12 Tips
Here are our tips for the week ahead. How did we get to here? By going through all the visuals and stats below.
Our famed barely interesting stats all in the one place for this week of fewer games.
BULLDOGS v DOLPHINS
Bulldogs have won both games v Dolphins, but both of those games have been in Bundaberg.
The Dolphins are yet to play at the Sydney Olympic stadium.
Bulldogs have won all three games at the Olympic Stadium this season. Two of them to nil.
Bulldogs have a patchy Thursday record – W3 L5 overall from their last eight games since 2019 and W5 L6 all time at home.
Dolphins have a strong W6 L2 record on a Thursday with a W2 L1 record away.
Dolphins are W2 L7 for away games v Sydney teams in Sydney.
PARRAMATTA v MANLY
Parramatta have a W17 L5 record at home to Manly including winning nine of their last ten at home to Manly.
The home side dominates this fixture, with the home side (either team) winning 13 of the last 15 going back to 2018.
Manly won the last clash between these sides on a Friday, but Parramatta had won six in a row on a Friday before that game.
Manly have lost nine of their last ten away games on a Friday.
Parramatta have lost five games in a row on a Friday at home.
PENRITH v NEWCASTLE
Penrith’s record in Bathurst is W6 L4. Against NSW opposition it is W3 L2.
Newcastle’s record at regional NSW grounds as the away team is W4 D1 L3.
Penrith have won seven in a row v Newcastle.
And from 2016, Penrith have won 13 of 15 matches v Newcastle.
It’s four wins in a row for Penrith as the home side and anywhere on a Saturday.
Penrith have lost their last two home games v NSW sides.
Newcastle have won five of their last six away games on a Saturday that weren’t in Qld.
ROOSTERS v SHARKS
Cronulla have won the only clash v Roosters at Gosford.
Roosters are W10 L10 at Gosford. But have won their last five games there.
Sharks are W4 L2 at Gosford but have won their last three games there and scored 40+ points in all three wins.
Cronulla beat the Roosters at Magic Round last season. Prior to that it was seven straight wins for the Roosters on a Saturday.
Since 2018, the Roosters are W38 L9 v Sydney teams as the home side.
WARRIORS v CANBERRA
The Warriors have won the only post-Covid game between these sides at Mt Smart Stadium in 2023.
Canberra have won the last two games between these sides at Mt Smart Stadium in 2012 and 2017 on a Sunday. Prior to that the Warriors won six games in a row.
Warriors have won their last three home games at Mt Smart Stadium on a Sunday.
Canberra have won four Sunday games in a row. All of those sides were non NSW.
2025 NRL Round 12 Stats Extra – Team in Origin Period
Want to know if your team, or any NRL team goes better or worse during the State of Origin period. The results range from not really surprised to kind of interesting.
2025 NRL Season Stats So Far
Here’s the best of the NRL Team Stats from last weekend.
2025 NRL Season Preview Stuff
We’ve done a lot of stuff ahead of the new NRL season, and here it all is.
We separate the rugby league Wheat/Chaff to present the 2025 NRL Round 11 Team of the Week & Player Stats.
First we have our Team of the Week, which takes some of the key player stats from the weekend and using various scoring methods come up with the best players in their positions from the latest round of the NRL.
Then there’s additional player stats from this weekend that was and the season that is.
2025 NRL Round 11 Team of the Week
We’ve used the stats for each position and picked the best starting 13 players from the most recent round, the stats and points assigned are explained at the end.
On top of the best starting 13, we also include the best four interchange players of the week. Seeing who has provided maximum impact from the bench.
2025 NRL Round 11 Player Stats Summary
Want to see which players topped the key stats for the latest round of the NRL this weekend?
2025 NRL Round 11 Player Stats EXTRA
Origin Players Stats Debate
Part of a office-wide debate? Can’t help but overhearing a public transport conversation? Wrapped up in a What’s App chat about Origin? In a fist fight about Origin at your local hotel carpark?
Well here are a bunch of stats comparisons from the 2025 NRL Season so far that add numbers to opinions.
NSW PROPS
NSW CENTRES
QLD UTILIITIES
QLD HALFBACK
QLD CENTRES
2025 NRL Team of the Season….So Far
Here’s our stats rolled up into the team of the season so far.
2025 NRL Season Player Stats…So Far
How the Team of the Week works
Want to know how we come up with the numbers to rank the players, the below table should explain hopefully.
Want more NRL information than just the draw, results or the current ladder? Then you are in the right place and the right time with the home of the right NRL Stats and Stuff via our 2025 NRL Round 11 Results Stats Summary for the weekend that was.
Each week we compile and keep up to date a wide range of stats from the latest weekend of NRL action plus the best 2025 NRL Season Stats to help you to the top of the tipping competition, land a few responsible winners or even make your Supercoach team better. And now with a match by match summary full of all the stats you need and/or want.
It’s all stats, and never Slats. Never.
2025 NRL Round 11 Results and Match Summaries
Want or need a quick summary of every game from last weekend? Well here they all are in all their summary glory.
Friday, 6:00 pm
Newcastle 6 Parramatta 28
Friday, 8:00 pm
Bulldogs 24 Roosters 20
Saturday, 3:00 pm
Dolphins 12 Warriors 16
Saturday, 5:30 pm
North Queensland 6 Manly Warringah 24
Saturday, 7:35 pm
Cronulla 31 Melbourne 26
Sunday, 2:00 pm
Brisbane 26 St George Illawarra 30
Sunday, 4:05 pm
Canberra 40 Gold Coast 24
Sunday, 6:15 pm
Wests Tigers 12 South Sydney 22
2025 NRL Round 11 Stats of the Week
Need some barely interesting stats to round up your weekend NRL experience? Here’s the choicest cuts of data from the weekend that was.
Newcastle have lost all three home games this season v Sydney clubs.
Parramatta have now won seven of their last eight v Newcastle.
Bulldogs have won the last two games v Roosters at the Olympic Stadium. And all by the same margin of four points.
The Warriors beating Dolphins was the first win by the away team out of 5 matches so far.
Manly have won six in a row v North Queensland in Townsville. And five in a row there on a Saturday.
Manly have also won five of their last six on a Saturday at any ground v North Queensland.
Manly have won eight in a row away to Qld teams on a Saturday (have only played North Qld and Gold Coast in that run).
But Cronulla have now won four in a row at Shark Park v Storm.
Broncos have lost seven day games in a row. (Day games = starting at 4:05pm or earlier)
Broncos have lost six straight on a Sunday.
Canberra have won 11 of their last 12 v Gold Coast. Gold Coast have lost ten games in a row away on a Sunday in games outside of Qld and won just one of their last 18.
Souths have won seven in a row v Wests Tigers on a Sunday.
Wests Tigers have won two of their last 13 games at Campbelltown on a Sunday.
Going back to 2021, Wests Tigers have won only two of 16 games at Campbelltown.
Wests Tigers have lost eight in a row at Campbelltown on a Sunday v Sydney teams, with a last win back in 2013.
Home Ground Special
Given the Wests Tigers had another loss at their home ground Campbelltown where they have a woeful record, we thought it would be interesting to see if the Tigers record at Campbelltown is the worst in the NRL.
Qualifiers for the below is the team is the nominated home side, they have played 10 games or more there since 1998, Dolphins home records at Suncorp and Kayo Stadium included.
The first visual shows the teams’ overall home record since 1998, which gives you an indication of if certain grounds are worse for some teams, especially those who do a lot of ground sharing.
A lot of the worst record are neutral games where the team is the nominated home side, so the first real worst records are the Rabbitohs at the SFS, when they were usually awful. And the reason for doing this in the first place – Wests Tigers @ Campbelltown – is one of the worst records.
Melbourne top the best home record like they do everywhere else.
Note that our data splits CommBank and BankWest Stadium names, and we are too lazy to correct that.
Day Record v Night Record
And given we gave the Wests Tigers a pay for their terrible home record, let’s focus on the Broncos terrible record during the day. They are officially the vampires of the NRL, although pointing out that strangely Qld teams are bad during the day.
2025 NRL Season Stats Summary
Do you need NRL 2025 Season stats, or just want 2025 NRL Season stats?
Either way, here’s more than you could probably ever need, or want.
Red Bull and Max Verstappen gave themselves wings on their 400th race and upset the McLaren party at Imola with a dominant win after a bold first lap move unseated pole sitter Oscar Piastri. Talking of partying our 2025 Emilia-Romagna F1 Grand Prix Result Summary is going back to 1999 to check the comparison for partying.
This 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Result, Laps that Matter summary, Review & Ratings which gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
2025 Emilia-Romagna F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – Oscar Piastri takes pole position ahead of Max Verstappen but it looked like it could either way throughout the qualifying sessions. Lando Norris again can’t quite match his team mate in fourth, with George Russell doing his usual stealth job to get in Norris’ way for third. An all Spanish third row is more of a surprise for Fernando Alonso than Carlos Sainz. Isack Hadjar is top rookie in 9th, Kimi Antonelli is 13th. On home soil the Ferrari look hopeless and both drivers miss Q3 and out qualified by Aston Martins. Not quite as bad as Yuki Tsunoda who well and truly binned his car in Q1 rolling over the barriers in one of his best efforts. He starts from pitlane and should be thankful his team could put his car back so quickly. It looked Humpty Dumpty, but Red Bull appears to be better than Kings Horses and Men. Also crashing in qualifying was Franco Cash-a-Pinto who was told by his boss Flavio that he just had to be quick, not crash and score points. He could be 0/3 by weekend’s end.
So Piastri v Verstappen into turn one again. Unlike Saudi Arabia it’s a long way to the first set of corners.
GRID (Starting Order) – PIA VER RUS NOR ALO SAI ALB STR HAD GAS
Lap 1 – Piastri gets away OK initially but Max Verstappen pulls alongside into the first turn and dives deep under braking and makes his way past in a bold and brave move, Piastri avoids contact wisely. Behind them the rest of the top 10 assume grid order down to Isack Hadjar who dropped two spots to Gasly and a Ferrari, who we presume is Leclerc and not Hamilton, and we also presume Hamilton is already moaning to his team. Esteban Ocon pits which you can presume is car breaking, but no looks like the earliest switch possible to hard tyres. First lap replays show a hint of a touch with his team mate.
ORDER – VER PIA RUS NOR ALO SAI ALB STR GAS LEC
Lap 3 – With the top ten mostly sorted, the battle of the early stages is Lewis Hamilton v Kimi Antonelli for 12th where the young Italian is holding firm. Followed by Charles Leclerc trying to steal Pierre Gasly’s ninth place. They run side by side and Gasly runs off the track and drops to 14th.
Lap 6 – A tenth of the race gone, and the track is proving as hard to pass as it promised which works for Max Verstappen and his 1.6 second lead. George Russell is 2.5 second behind Piastri in third, then fourth to 12th are all just under a second behind the car in front. So it’s close but no action just yet, but someone will lose patience and talent soon enough surely.
Lap 9 – Lando Norris is very close to George Russell now, thinking about moves into the first two braking areas, but Russell holds on for now. The next lap Lando pulls alongside the Mercedes early into the lap and runs wide onto the grass at pace. Norris holds onto the car and restarts his pursuit of third.
Lap 11 – Lando Norris nails Russell with a beautiful and brave move into the Villeneuve chicane going around the outside of the first part of the fast chicane and keep his foot down switching to the inside and takes third. He’ll need to hurry up though, Piastri is nearly eight seconds up the road.
Lap 12 – First front running cars pit for tyres – George Russell and Carlos Sainz. This early might mean two tyre stops and not just the one most people thought pre-race. Charles Leclerc pitted even earlier.
Lap 13 – Alonso pits and rejoins in 15th behind George Russell and Charles Leclerc, who is the big winner of the first pit stops so far.
Lap 14 – Oscar Piastri pits for tyres and the pit stop has a small issue and he loses 1-2 seconds of stationary time.
ORDER – VER NOR ALB HAD ANT HAM HUL COL BEAR TSU (No Pit Stops)
Lap 18 – Oscar Piastri starts his climb up the gird following his pitstops with a fine move on Yuki Tsunoda for 10th and Oliver Bearman a lap later. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris haven’t pit yet, and Verstappen has almost ten seconds on Norris, who has slightly less to Alex Albon.
Lap 20 – Three moves in three laps for Oscar Piastri who takes 8th from Colapinto. That’s three cars between him and the next person he’s racing against for the race – Charles Leclerc.
Lap 21 – Leclerc and Piastri are trading overtaking moves as they carve through the non stoppers. George Russell is having much less fun a is tstill tstuck behind Tsunoda. He could have car troubles.
Lap 25 – Oscar Piastri is 32 seconds behind Max Verstappen, which should favour the Red Bull driver once he stops, despite the Imola pitlane being a long one. Lando Norris is nine seconds behind Verstappen.
Lap 27 – Piastri passes Hamilton and Antonelli is consecutive laps and is closing in on Isack Hadjar who is doing very well in fourth. Again the leading RB driver is better than the second Red Bull driver. A lap later Piastri gets by Hadjar too, he is sure very decisive with his overtaking today, making all the difference compared to others behind him. But is he ruining his tyres?
Lap 28 – Lando Norris pits from second place and rejoins in 6th, but importantly ahead of Charles Leclerc, so effectively a net third. But there’s a bunch of cars between him and Piastri in net second.
Lap 29 – Yellow flags for a broken down Haas of Esteban Ocon which brings out a Virtual Safety Car, which benefits the cars who have yet to pit greatly. Especially Max Verstappen who resumes in the lead and has a cushion of 20 seconds. But also gifts Albon and Hadjar their high positions after their no pit strategy plays out nicely.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
ORDER – VER PIA NOR ALB HAD ANT HAM ALO STR LEC
Oscar Piastri pits for new tyres, why not. He loses second place on track to Lando Norris and third to Alex Albon, but he probably would have anyway with old tyres.
Lap 31 – RACE RESUMES
Lap 33 – Lando Norris sets a fastest lap from second place. He’ll need a few more of those with Max Verstappen just under 20 seconds up the road. Piastri is 13 seconds behind Norris but has an Alex Albon in between them. Piastri sets fastest lap the next lap.
Lap 34 – Lewis Hamilton takes just two post-pitstop laps to pass Kimi Antonelli, something he was unable to do in the first half of the race. Two laps later he got past Hadjar, and looks like he is happy driving a Ferrari today.
Lap 38 – The Ferraris have come to life with Leclerc joining in the overtaking fun. Maybe it is the fear of disappointing the home fans, some inspiration from the new pope or a combination of those and neither. Either way they are carving through.
Lap 40 – Oscar Piastri gets past Alex Albon for third, looked so easy for the McLaren driver. Not that you could tell from the expression on his face. Because he’s wearing a helmet. But we’re sure his demeanour wouldn’t change regardless. Piastri 13 seconds behind Norris who has closed the gap to Verstappen to 18 seconds.
ORDER – VER NOR PIA ALB HAM LEC HAD ANT RUS HUL
Lap 46 – Kimi Antonelli slows and pulls over in a slightly dangerous position. Will it be a Virtual Safety Car or full Safety Car? And who will pit? And poor Kimi breaking down in his home GP after doing well.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Max Verstappen pits for new tyres and can do what he likes with the lead he has under the safety car. Lando Norris pits for tyres and the stop is twice as long as usual which won’t help him in his battle vs his teammate Piastri. It doesn’t Piastri takes second. Norris comes out alongside Alex Albon and it is debatable who was ahead, but Norris takes third anyway.
Cars at the lower end of the Grand Prix all pit for new tyres and dreams of Championship points.
Further ahead Alex Albon pits and rejoins fifth. There’s a big bag of points heading to Williams.
ORDER – VER PIA NOR LEC ALB RUS HAM SAI HAD HUL
Lap 51 – Bloody hell. Lap 51 and this Safety Car is still going. It shouldn’t take this many laps to move a car. It couldn’t have been more than a few hundred metres.
Lando Norris on the radio talking up McLaren tactics and whether he should be let in front to challenge Verstappen on fresher tyres. It’s probably fair enough, but sure it wouldn’t be received well if it were reversed.
Lap 54 – RACE RESUMES
Max Verstappen clears out easily in front. Whilst watching for McLaren team order action, we almost saw Leclerc pinching third from Norris. Nothing to note from the rest of the field from the restart.
Lap 55 – Lando Norris is closing on Oscar Piastri and we’ll probably see team orders kick in soon enough as Max Verstappen sets a Fastest Lap and already has an almost three second lead. Whilst the McLarens squabble for a few more laps,
Lap 58 – Lando Norris makes a move into the first chicane and nails it, with Oscar Piastri being firm but fair. As well as true but fair. Lando now has money where mouth is time and try and chase down Verstappen. Although the five seconds gap and new fastest lap to Max Verstappen makes a win for Norris unlikely.
Lap 59 – Alex Albon harassing Charles Leclerc for fourth place in another example of a fine drive for Williams. Double points for the team at the moment with Sainz in 8th too. But Lap 60 sees another attempt but this time he runs wide across the gravel and drops a place behind another Ferrari.
Lap 61 – Lando Norris is over six seconds behind Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri is nearly five seconds behind his team mate. So despite settling for second and third, the swap was justified.
Lap 62 – The Albon-Leclerc battle continues and the Willaims eventually gets past to take fifth.
FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen cruises to the chequered flag, like he cruised all day. Behind that it’s double points for McLaren, Ferrari and Williams, with the leading rookie being RB’s Isack Hadjar.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER NOR PIA HAM ALB LEC RUS SAI HAD TSU
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. 5 points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN
Did his usual great job all weekend. Almost snatched pole position in qualifying but did the job properly in the race with a bold move that Oscar Piastri couldn’t defend against. He ran long on tyres and was rewarded when a Virtual Safety Car was called. Did it easy.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LANDO NORRIS – Disappointed in qualifying with only fourth. But recovered well in the race finishing second behind Verstappen after running the longer strategy. Gained some points back on his team mate in the Championship ahead of the Monaco GP the next weekend.
ISACK HADJAR – Best of the rookies this weekend with strong qualifying and a good race as well. Part of the No Stoppers brigade.
ALEX ALBON – A solid qualifying saw him 7th, one place behind teammate Sainz. Then he raced basically in the top six all race and looked strong.
CARLOS SAINZ – Great six on the grid, and not quite his day as he ended up 8th. But the Willaims is starting to look like a fast car, so sunny skies ahead.
FERNANDO ALONSO – Great fifth on the grid in qualifying. Finished just outside the points, but at least he has something from the season so far.
LEWIS HAMILTON – A result of fourth which will hopefully cheer him up.
THE GRAPE-EST – YUKI TSUNODA
A huge crash in Q1 where he got some air time and rolled over the top of the barriers. He was safe and well. His Red Bull career might not be. Did score a point, which wasn’t bad, but also had a run-in with Carlos Sainz, but both continued.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
OSCAR PIASTRI – Harsh, but not the result you want after taking pole position. Finishing behind your nearest World Championship contenders. But unlike his team mate, his worst weekends are pole position and third place.
FRANCO COLAPINTO – Reports of his five race deal were denied by his boss Flavio who said all he had to was be fast, not crash and score some points. None of the three requests achieved.
ESTEBAN OCON – Qualified in the back four of the race, ran pretty far back during the race until his car expired.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
PRE RACE ACTION (FP, QUAL, SPRINT, OFF TRACK etc) – 3 / 5
A compeditive qualifying, with a few high speed prangs from The Replacements drivers made for an interesting session. The SkyF1 broadcast team was almost a B team with key players taking a rest, but we’d argue it was almost better than usual.
ON TRACK ACTION (RACE) – 7 / 10
A fair amount of overtaking in the upper and lower midfield and a few Safety Cars thrown in made it an interesting race, without having a real battle for the top three positions. The extended Safety Car sapped some of the enthusiasm for the race.
ANY SURPRISES? – 3 / 5
The Williams pace overall raises an eyebrow. The Aston Martin pace in qualifying was even more of a surprise.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 5
The race weekend confirms that Max Verstappen is a factor at any race anytime.
ENDING – 4 / 5
Last Safety Car timing meant the field was bunched and close together for the last ten lap burst. McLaren team orders also bubbling away kept one awake too.
OVERALL RATING – 20 / 30
Not a bad race at all. Verstappen winning means it looks like a genuine three horse trace for the title, plus improved performances from Williams, and the late surge of the Ferraris means it could be just as compeditive as 2024.
Just two weeks to go of this quite unremarkable Premier League season, with a Gameweek that has been shifted around for teams who are good enough for a European final but not the Premier League this season. Talking of contractual obligations, our Premier League Predictions Week 37 is also being given another week of tipping as we always supply winning tips in our second last GW.
Each gameweek in the Premier League in 2024-25 we offer up a stat filled prediction preview, with some barely interesting stats and visuals, just enough to bluff your way through various tipping competitions or betting shops.
2024-25 Premier League Predictions Week 37
Barely Interesting Premier League Stats Week 37
Help yourself to a buffet of barely interesting stats to help pick a winner.
AVL v TOT
Aston Villa are W2 D2 L1 at home to traditional big six clubs. Spurs have won eight of their last nine league games at Aston Villa. Aston Villa have won only once since 2008 at home to Spurs.
CHE v MUN
The last four games at Chelsea v Man Utd have ended with three draws and a Chelsea win. Both games played between these sides on a Monday have ended in a draw. 2-2 in 2002 and 1-1 in 1906. Man Utd’s record away to London clubs this season is W1 D1 L4. Chelsea are W2 D1 L1 at home to big six clubs.
EVE v SOU
Southampton have won the last two games v Everton. Southampton have only won twice at Everton in the Premier League era. Southampton have won the last three games between these clubs on a Sunday. Everton are W2 D2 L1 v promoted clubs this season.
WHU v NFO
The last seven games between these sides have been won by the home team. West Ham have won five in a row at home to Forest and seven of their last eight.
Your obscure Stat of the Week – All three games between West Ham and Nottingham Forest on a Sunday at West Ham ended in a 3-2 win to West Ham.
LEI v IPS
The last three games between Ipswich and Leicester have ended in a 1-1 draw. Ipswich are the only club this season not to beat a promoted side. No wonder they’re getting relegated.
BRE v FUL
Brentford are undefeated at home to Fulham on a Sunday (W2 D1) and the three games have seen 18 goals. Brentford’s record at home to London clubs this season is W1 D2 L2. Fulham’s away record to London clubs is W2 D1 L2.
ARS v NEW
Newcastle have lost all four games away to the current top six clubs, only Leicester, Southampton and Wolves have lost all their games to top six clubs. Arsenal have won 11 of their last 12 league games at home to Newcastle and 19 of their last 22 (D2 L1).
BHA v LIV
Brighton have won the only game on a Monday between these sides at Brighton. Brighton have a respectable W2 D2 L1 v current top six clubs. Liverpool’s W4 D2 L1 record v middle eight teams is the best.
CRY v WOL
Crystal Palace have won four in a row v Wolves and three in a row on a Tuesday. Crystal Palace are two wins from two games on a Tuesday this season. Wolves are W1 L1.
MCI v BOU
Bournemouth’s last start win v Man City was their first ever. Man City have never lost at home to Bournemouth, with a record of W10 D1 and have scored 37 goals in that run.
General Premier League Season Stats
This is where we put the current season stats featuring form, xG, goals scored and conceded, shots, tackles and more.
Faster than an Aston Martin, more expendable than an Alpine driver, with tricks that he’s hiding from the FIA, and harder to get out of than a Brazilian gravel trap, it’s the F1 Donkey with his unique view on F1 and more. Before each race The F1 Donkey puts the ass in sass and unloads his alternative, slightly unhinged thoughts on F1 including this week’s Bold 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Predictions and opinion.
The F1 Donkey’s Pre Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Thoughts
After the excitement of the Celebrity Grand Prix in Miami, Formula 1 returns to its roots of European races rather than playing one off the new album as they arrive in Imola for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, formerly known as the San Marino Grand Prix. I do prefer the obscurity of the San Marino race title rather than the more geographically correctness of Emilia-Romagna. Who wouldn’t. That hyphen is a pain in the arse. Like always.
As the website’s proper Prix-view points out, Imola is a race where big events happens, not always good. Or it is the home of team mates falling out. Given the McLaren advantage over the other cars, you can see a Norris-Piastri falling out, which might force Oscar Piastri into a second facial expression. Hopefully not for many reasons though. Lando Norris can resume his pout mode.
Talking about forcing things into a second, Alpine have dumped Jack Doohan, who was having what used to be a fairly normal debut season before this current crop of drivers ruined that historically and for the future. They have replaced Jack Doohan with a driver with lots of pesos, I mean pace-o. In fairness Franco Colapinto showed up well last season filling in for Logan Sargeant where he only had to finish more and crash less. He managed the first one for sure, as Logan Sargeant was ordinary, but Colapinto struggled with the second task in the latter half of his cameo. The broken pieces of the Williams cars were enough to put Red Bull off. Which is a bad statement, as their standards of what a second driver has to offer is very, very low recently.
Apparently Christian Horner was in trouble as Red Bull boss too according to rumours. Netflix would be sad, I wouldn’t. In fairness, sacking would be harsh, but given the driver hiring, and the drop in performance when Max Verstappen isn’t being Superman, losing key staff, moaning about other teams cheating because Red Bull aren’t winning and they have muppets driving the second seat, it wouldn’t be completely undeserved.
Since we’re in the mood for sacking, and talking about the Miami Grand Prix, can we please get rid of Danica Patrick. She is the Logan Sargeant and Nicholas Latifi of F1 commentary. Actually she’s worse. She’s the Giovanni Lavaggi and Forti-Ford of F1 commentary. At best, which she never is.
Back to the Miami Grand Prix, if I may, and who are you to argue anyway, you know what you got yourself into. How good were the Lego cars.
Of course watching one video on Facebook means I’m now getting 25 notifications per day from Facebook to watch the same stuff over and over again. But with Lego Formula One cars and European Cricket, that’s fine by me.
It was so enjoyable to hear the drivers laughing so much and enjoying themselves. Especially someone like Lewis Hamilton who sounded like he was having a blast, which is good for someone who takes themselves as seriously as he does. Given how his race turned in Miami, Hamilton may prefer a Lego car to his Ferrari, or perhaps a Lego Man instead of the Ferrari tactics team.
One does wonder with all the usual disappointment and lack of action with Sprint Races, why not drop them for just the two full laps in the Lego cars.
And assign points to the top five cars across the line, then more points are awarded for the team with the fewest Lego bricks missing. The latter opening up cars taking each other out for fun and points. Looking at you Pierre Gasly who seemed to be enjoying breaking the Lego cars a little too much.
The moral of the story is Lego cars in, Sprint Races out.
Talking of in and out, here are the bold predictions for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
The NRL Donkey’s Bold 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Predictions
And here they are, in a convenient team by team format, so you can ignore them all at your convenience or peril. Depending on the outcome of our prediction.
McLAREN
A Lando Norris weekend all the way to Q3 when he is trumped by Max Verstappen for pole position and it unravels from there. Oscar Piastri to have a quiet podium kind of race.
RED BULL
Max Verstappen to plonk his Red Bull on pole position and use the narrow confines of Imola to keep the lead and win the race.
FERRARI
Charles Leclerc to end up nearest challenger in the race. Ferrari timing their strategy to perfection for once. For Leclerc only. Lewis Hamilton to receive more bad luck and very few points.
MERCEDES
George Russell to quietly assume fourth place on the grid and over the line. Kimi Antonelli to spin off during Q2. Still scores some points though.
WILLIAMS
Carlos Sainz is due a good race, so why not here.
RACING BULLS
Q3 for Hadjar. Q1 for Lawson.
ALPINE
Franco Crash-a-pinto to live up to the unfair nickname and hit the wall Acque Minerali wall during Practice. He will recover to make Q2 but no points. Pierre Gasly Q3 and DNF.
ASTON MARTIN
Slower than Sauber.
HAAS
A Q2, no points kind of invisible race.
KICK SAUBER
Slightly faster than Aston Martin.
F1 2025 Season Stuff
We’ve worked hard getting ready for the 2025 F1 Season, and this is our best work below.
