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Max Verstappen had a day to remember.Credit: Getty Images
Max Verstappen gave his Formula 1 title defence a huge boost with victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a daring overtake on standings leader, Australian star Oscar Piastri at the start.
The Dutch superstar built a commanding lead which was wiped out when the safety car bundled the field back up. He still held on to win ahead of Lando Norris, who overtook his McLaren teammate Piastri for second with five laps remaining.
Verstappen took his second win of the season, and first since last month’s Japanese Grand Prix, and denied Piastri – who finished third – what would have been his fourth win in a row.
Verstappen praised his Red Bull team’s “fantastic execution all round” as the team marked its 400th F1 race with a win. This was also Verstappen’s fourth win in a row at Imola.
Lewis Hamilton recovered from 12th on the grid to finish fourth in his first race for Ferrari in Italy.
Hamilton profited from a late-race fight between his teammate Charles Leclerc and Williams star Alex Albon.
Albon complained Leclerc had pushed him off the track as they battled for fourth, and Hamilton passed both drivers before Ferrari eventually asked Leclerc to yield fifth to Albon.
George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, ahead of Carlos Sainz jnr n the second Williams. Isack Hadjar was ninth for RB and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 10th after starting last following a crash in qualifying.
The top three spoke to former F1 star David Coulthard following the race. This is what they had to say:
Not much went right for Oscar Piastri (right) at Imola.Credit: Getty Images
Oscar Piastri (third)
“[Being overtaken at the start was] Disappointing, obviously, but I think we made a few wrong calls after that anyway, and, yeah, [it was] not our best Sunday.
“[There is] definitely a lot of things to look at and review from that one, but well done to Max and Red Bull.
“I thnk it was a good move [at the start], but also they had pace today. We’ll look back at that one and see what we can do a bit better.
“Obvious the VSC [virtual safety car] was perfectly timed for Max and Lando, and I’d already used both my tyres – both my hard tyres – by that point so it made the last restart pretty tricky. I tried my best to hang on to second, but I had nowhere near enough grip, so third it is.
“I tried my best to hang on [late against Norris for second] but I didn’t have the grip.
“It was inevitable, I think, that he was going to get past, but I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.”
Lando Norris overtook Oscar Piastri late for second.Credit: Getty Images
Lando Norris (second)
“[It was] not easy to overtake, but we did what we could. I think Max drove a good race – they were quick today, and probably a bit quicker [than us]. We couldn’t keep up.
“We had a good little battle at the end in between Oscar and myself, which is always tense, but always good fun. We had a good race – for us, as a team, second and third is great. Of course you’d love to be up there fighting against Max, but they were too good for us today.”
Max Verstappen won his 65th career F1 grand prix.Credit: Getty Images
Max Verstappen (winner – his 65th grand prix win in Red Bull’s 400th race)
“The start, itself, wasn’t particularly great [for me] but then I was still on the outside line, or basically the normal line, and I said, ‘Well, I’m just going to try and send it around the outside’. It worked really well.
“That, of course, unleashed other things, because once we’re in the lead… the car was good. I could look after my tyres and we had very good pace today.
“Again, [it was a] massive improvement from Friday and I’m very, very pleased with that.
“That VSC was quite handy to pit, and even then – even on the hard compound [tyre] – I think our pace was very strong, but then, of course, there was a safety car so the field was all back together. Even then, on the restart, I think we managed it all really well and brought it home.
“It’s been a very important week for us – the car’s performed really well. I think the execution of the whole race – when to pit, the pit-stops themselves, they were all very good.”
Max Verstappen had a day to remember.Credit: Getty Images
Max Verstappen gave his Formula 1 title defence a huge boost with victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a daring overtake on standings leader, Australian star Oscar Piastri at the start.
The Dutch superstar built a commanding lead which was wiped out when the safety car bundled the field back up. He still held on to win ahead of Lando Norris, who overtook his McLaren teammate Piastri for second with five laps remaining.
Verstappen took his second win of the season, and first since last month’s Japanese Grand Prix, and denied Piastri – who finished third – what would have been his fourth win in a row.
Verstappen praised his Red Bull team’s “fantastic execution all round” as the team marked its 400th F1 race with a win. This was also Verstappen’s fourth win in a row at Imola.
Lewis Hamilton recovered from 12th on the grid to finish fourth in his first race for Ferrari in Italy.
Hamilton profited from a late-race fight between his teammate Charles Leclerc and Williams star Alex Albon.
Albon complained Leclerc had pushed him off the track as they battled for fourth, and Hamilton passed both drivers before Ferrari eventually asked Leclerc to yield fifth to Albon.
George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, ahead of Carlos Sainz jnr n the second Williams. Isack Hadjar was ninth for RB and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 10th after starting last following a crash in qualifying.
That’s four wins in a row for Verstappen at Imola – winning by more than six seconds from Norris and Piastri another six seconds adrift of him.
This was far from a disaster for McLaren, but a hell of a reminder of just what Red Bull are capable of.
Piastri never quite had the speed, or the luck, or the tyres today after being caught on the hop by Verstappen on lap one.
Verstappen may not have the quickest car in the field, but he’s got the most proven race-winning ability.
Charles Leclerc is under investigation for forcing Alex Albon off the track, but it could all be for nothing – he’s ceded the fifth position to Albon anyway.
Lewis Hamilton was a man on a mission.Credit: AP
The “Prancing Horse” hasn’t had such a bad time of it today in Italy, after all.
Hamilton and Leclerc looked miles off it earlier in the weekend, but now they’re both set for a top-five finish – with the star Briton just overtaking Leclerc in style after the latter’s intriguing wheel-to-wheel battle with Alex Albon.
Up front, it’s all Verstappen. He’s 6.5 seconds ahead of Norris on the second last lap.
Piastri gave him the room, but you could see it coming – Piastri, on aged hard tyres, didn’t put up a fight as Norris overtook him at the start of lap 58, with the aid of DRS. McLaren really have played that well.
Now Norris has five laps to try and do the unthinkable…
It could be now or never. Will McLaren issue team orders for Piastri? He’s less than a second ahead of Norris on lap 56 of 63. Verstappen is three seconds up the road already.
Verstappen has put more than two seconds on Piastri straight off the restart.
He backed the field up, as was his wont as leader, and played them on a break down the straight.
The McLarens have it all to do here, and they’ll have to be decisive, and soon, if they want Piastri – on badly worn hard rubber – to cede his position to Norris for the fight to the death.
McLaren have always said they have two No.1 drivers. Will they prove it, despite the championship standings?
Dutch superstar Max Verstappen will still have to fight out this race.Credit: AP
Despite all of Verstappen’s dominance, he’ll have to hold off both McLarens in the final 10 laps or so here.
What an incredible situation. The Dutch star has deserved the win ever since he got past Piastri early on lap one, but now he’ll have to fight him off at the end, thanks to an actual (not virtual) safety car.
The thing is, as Lando Norris noted over McLaren team radio despite making a point of saying he wasn’t asking to be let past, Piastri’s tyres are “pretty dead” at this point.
Piastri’s old, hard tyres could work against him in his fight to chase down Verstappen, so could Norris, behind Piastri in third, be the beneficiary of team orders to let him past and go hell for leather for a stunning win?
Amazing drama. As usual.
This is Verstappen’s race – even though he’s just pitted again.
Could he be the luckiest driver in the field today? He’s earnt it if so.
Piastri was heading into Imola going for his fourth-straight win, but it was never a foregone conclusion with the driver of a generation hot on his heels.
Remember Red Bull boss Christian Horner saying pre-race that Verstappen would drive like he had nothing to lose? They weren’t just empty words.
On lap 46 of 63, Verstappen was 18 seconds clear of Lando Norris in second, with Piastri 13 behind him. Kimi Antonelli was beached on the side of the track, suddenly, with technical dramas – and that triggered a full safety car – but Verstappen is still the man in command, despite taking the chance to pit for fresh rubber.
Norris pitted too, but Piastri stayed out. Now, on lap 47, Verstappen leads from Piastri and Norris.
