Verstappen takes dominant win in Imola

Max Verstappen of Red Bull won the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix with a dominant victory in the first lap of an audacious overtaking move.

After the start, the four-time champion controlled the race from the outside of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren, passing pole-sitter Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.

Verstappen’s tail was closed by a late safety car and included Lando Norris and the McLarens of Piastri.

However, Verstappen’s flawless restart gave him the opportunity to break free while Norris, who was much more recent, fought for three laps before passing the Australian.

Verstappen’s second victory of the season reduces Piastri’s championship lead over Norris to 13 points, placing him nine points clear of the Briton.

After they pitted Piastri and Verstappen early in the race when he was second behind him, but they were starting to lose time, there will be questions about strategy for McLaren.

Piastri acknowledged that Verstappen had made some “wrong calls” and that he had “braked too early” on the opening lap.

Verstappen had a comfortable 10-second lead over Norris, who was unable to stop the Red Bull, and forced Piastri to resurrect through the midfield cars to regain his position.

Red Bull’s 400th grand prix was a fitting occasion for the drive.

The McLaren drivers and second-place drivers engaged in a see-sawing battle during the two caution periods.

When the Briton made his only pit stop, Piastri appeared to have passed Norris, who would later return to Piastri on new tires.

Esteban Ocon’s Haas stopped just before Norris’ stop, which caused a virtual safety car (VSC) pause between the Tosa and Piratella corners.

Because Piastri stopped to change tyres to avoid leaving cars behind, Norris was ahead after the VSC.

Then, when Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes stopped in exactly the same spot as Ocon, officials made the decision to deploy a full safety car.

Verstappen and Norris stopped for fresh tires this time, but Piastri did not because he had no longer available, so that resulted in Norris moving back behind Piastri, but this time with 16-lap fresher tires.

Behind the safety car, Norris argued that Piastris’ tires “looked pretty dead” and that they should not compete with Verstappen for the win.

However, after three laps of fighting, McLaren made the decision to ignore team orders, before Norris finally made it to Verstappen’s exit with five laps to go.

The field alternated between drivers using new tires and those using old tires during the final laps, which were fascinating to watch.

Hamilton could move up because of this. He had already made his first stop under the VSC and the safety car after running long on hard tires.

At the flag, he passed Albon’s Williams and Leclerc, and he was only 1.4 seconds ahead of Piastri.

Leclerc worked hard to hold back Albon, but when they were side by side through Tamburello, Ferrari handed him the job, giving Albon fifth place.

Carlos Sainz, the team-mate from Anglo-Thai, finished eighth, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bull, who scored the winning point after suffering a significant crash in qualifying.

Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso, who had a stellar fifth place on the grid, were also severely harmed by the timing of the two safety cars.