This weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Italy is the first European race of this 2025 Formula 1 season.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is on pole for today’s race, having ended an incident-packed qualifying session — stopped twice for accidents involving Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto, respectively — three hundredths of a second ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Mercedes’ George Russell is in third, next to Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris in fourth.
There was disappointment for the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, neither of whom managed to make it through to Q3 in front of a passionate Italian fanbase at Imola.
Piastri is looking for his fifth win of the season — and his third in a row — after taking the checkered flag in Miami last time out. The Australian leads Norris by 16 points in the drivers’ championship, with reigning champion Verstappen (Red Bull) another 16 points back in the standings. Verstappen has won his last three races on this circuit, so Piastri will be keeping a close eye on his mirrors.
In this article you can find out how to watch the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as it happens. You’ll also find all the information you need on the schedule, the location, official race highlights and more.
When is the Emilia-Romagna GP 2025?
The 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix takes place on Sunday, May 18 at 3 p.m. local time at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, aka Imola. That’s 2 p.m BST / 9 a.m. ET.
How to watch the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix online
| Header Cell - Column 0 | U.S. (ET) | U.K. (BST) | Australia (AEST) |
|---|---|---|---|
Practice 1 | 7:30 a.m. ET (Fri) ESPN 2 Fubo (7-day trial) | 12.30 p.m. (Fri) Sky Sports / Now | 9.30 p.m. (Fri) Foxtel FoxSports / Kayo (7 days free) |
Practice 2 | 11.00 a.m. ET (Fri) ESPN 2 Fubo (7-day trial) | 4.00 p.m. (Fri) Sky Sports / Now | 1.00 a.m. (Sat) Foxtel FoxSports / Kayo (7 days free) |
Practice 3 | 6.30 a.m. ET (Sat) ESPN 2 Fubo (7-day trial) | 11.30 a.m. (Sat) Sky Sports / Now | 8.30 p.m. (Sat) Foxtel FoxSports / Kayo (7 days free) |
Qualifying | 10.00 a.m. ET (Sat) ESPN 2 Fubo (7-day trial) | 3.00 p.m. (Sat) Sky Sports / Now | 12.00 a.m. (Sun) Foxtel FoxSports / Kayo (7 days free) |
Grand Prix | 9.00 a.m. ET (Sun) ESPN2 Fubo (7-day trial) | 2.00 p.m. (Sun) Sky Sports / Now | 11.00 p.m. (Sun) Foxtel FoxSports / Kayo (7 days free) |
How to watch the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 2025 on TV
The 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix will be shown in full on ESPN 2 in the U.S., as detailed above. That includes all the F1 practice and qualifying sessions.
ESPN+ subscribers can also access a live and interactive driver tracker, and get views from the cockpit courtesy of an on-board camera channel that switches between the drivers throughout the race.
You can watch ESPN2 via Sling in selected regions (you can currently get 50% off your first month) or Fubo (a 7-day free trial is available).
In the U.K., F1 broadcasting rights belong to Sky TV. The F1 rights holder in Australia is Fox Sports. We have full information on watching F1 on TV here.
- U.K. — Sky Sports or Now
- U.S. — ESPN 2 (via Sling/Fubo)
- Australia — Fox Sports / Kayo
- Canada — RDS / RDS 2 / TSN / Noovo
- Watch your usual stream anywhere — Try NordVPN risk-free
Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 2025 highlights
Not long after the completion of each Grand Prix, the official Formula 1 YouTube channel puts out a 5-10 minute highlights package from the race.
Alternatively, if you don’t mind waiting a few hours the U.K.'s free to watch Channel 4 streaming service hosts an extended highlights program of two hours that then becomes available on demand — Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix highlights are available from 6.30 p.m. BST on Sunday evening.
To watch that coverage when outside of the U.K., you'll need to use a good VPN — full details below.
How to watch Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 2025 from anywhere without cable
Heading abroad this weekend and blocked from watching the race?
You can still watch your usual Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix live stream thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software makes your devices to appear to be back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are — ideal for F1 fans away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN. It's the best on the market:
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
Can I watch the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix for Free?
The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix does offer an opportunity to catch all the action for free, with four countries doing so.
Italy:
Being one of their two home races for the year, Italy's TV8 will be streaming qualifying and the Grand Prix as part of their deal.
Luxembourg:
RTL Zwee keeps you across the action in every single 2025 Formula 1 race.
Belgium:
RTBF provides FREE F1 live streams in Belgium.
Austria:
ORF are providing a FREE streaming service to catch all the action from Imola.
What time is the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix worldwide?
Lights out for the start of the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix is set for 3.00 p.m. local time in Italy on Sunday, May 18. Here are the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix start times in Europe, India, South Africa and other worldwide locations:
- 6.00 a.m. PT — Pacific Time
- 8.00 a.m. CT — Central Time
- 9.00 a.m. ET — Eastern Time
- 10.00 a.m. BRT — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2.00 p.m. BST — United Kingdom
- 3.00 p.m. CET — Central Europe
- 3.00 p.m. SAST — South Africa
- 5.00 p.m. GST — Dubai, UAE
- 6.30 p.m. IST — New Delhi, India
- 8.00 p.m. WIT — Jakarta, Indonesia
- 9.00 p.m. CST — Beijing, China
- 11.00 p.m. AEST — Australia
- 1.00 a.m. NZST (Monday) — New Zealand
Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix FAQs
So, that's how to watch the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and all the race timings sorted. Now here's some F1 Emilia-Romagna GP FAQs for everything else you want to know about the upcoming race.
Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 2025 circuit
The 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix takes place at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari (also known as Imola) in Italy. From 1981 to 2006, races at this circuit were known as San Marino Grand Prix. The track returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2020, rebranded as the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. It’s named after the region of Italy where it takes place.
On race day the drivers will complete 63 laps of the 3.05-mile (4.91km) circuit for a total race distance of 192.03 miles (309.05km).
When is the next race?
The next race after the Emilia-Romagna GP race is the Monaco Grand Prix. It takes place in one week’s time, on Sunday, May 25.
Who won the 2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix?
Last year’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was won by four-time world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull). Lando Norris (McLaren) came second, with Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) rounding out the podium.
What is the lap record at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix?
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) set the fastest ever lap time at the Imola circuit in 2020, posting a time of 1:15.48.
Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix winners
Lewis Hamilton won the 2020 race, but since then Max Verstappen has been the only driver to top the podium at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The race did not run in 2023 due to flooding in the region.
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We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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