After taking the lead over standings leader Oscar Piastri at the start, Max Verstappen’s title defense at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix gave him a major boost.
The Dutch driver built a commanding lead on Sunday that the safety car failed to recover after putting the field back together. Lando Norris, who had five laps to go before his McLaren teammate Piastri, finished second, but he still held on to win.
Verstappen won his fourth straight victory, beating Piastri, who finished third last month, and his first since last month’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen praised his Red Bull team’s “fantastic execution all round” as they won their 400th F1 race.
Verstappen described his crucial overtake as “the start wasn’t particularly good, but I was still on the outside line, or basically the typical [racing] line, and I was like, “Well, I’m just going to try and send it round the outside,” and it turned out really well. “The car was good once we were in the lead,” we were told, of course, because that set our pace.
Although Norris had the benefit of being on fresher tires than his teammate, Verstappen’s late-race move on Piastri was almost a copy of Verstappen’s.
Oscar and I engaged in a “good little battle” at the end, which was “too tense but always fun,” Norris said, despite acknowledging Verstappen and Red Bull were “too good for us today.”
The standings between Piastri and Norris were reduced by 13 points. With nine points behind Norris, Verstappen leads all three.
Hamilton resurrects
Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari race in Italy came from 12th place on the grid to finish fourth.
Hamilton and his teammate Alex Albon of Williams, Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon, engaged in a late-race fight.
After Hamilton passed both drivers, Albon claimed Leclerc had forced him to leave the track while they were battling for fourth, before Ferrari finally asked Leclerc to give fifth to Albon.
Carlos Sainz Jr. won the second Williams, while George Russell placed seventh overall for Mercedes.
After starting last after suffering a crash in qualifying, Isack Hadjar finished ninth for Racing Bulls, while Yuki Tsunoda, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, finished 10th.
A thrilling “farewell” to Imola.
What could be F1’s most recent victory at Imola was anticipated to be overtaking a fable. Verstappen’s incredible move and numerous other overtakes were the focus of the Italian fans’ first viewing.
Drivers have enjoyed driving the narrow, bumpy Imola track since the COVID-19 pandemic brought it back to the F1 schedule. However, its position is vulnerable because it is Italy’s second-largest race, which only the United States hosts once.
It will be a shame if we don’t return, Piastri said on Saturday.
The last race in Imola’s current contract was on Sunday, and while there is no word on the outcome of the next one, it was the last one.
Source: Aljazeera
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