At the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, Max Verstappen secured his second victory of the season. Behind him, the McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri battled closely for the remaining podium spots.
Verstappen moved into the lead by overtaking Piastri at the first corner on the opening lap. He then maintained his composure after a late safety car intervention to clinch his 65th career Formula 1 victory.
Reflecting on the race, Verstappen commented on his start, noting it “wasn`t particularly great.” However, he explained his decision to overtake: “I was still on the outside line, the normal line, so I was like `well I`m going to try and send it around the outside` and it worked really well.” He attributed his subsequent pace to taking the lead: “Of course, that unleashed our pace because when we were in the lead, the car was good. I could look after my tyres.”
Oscar Piastri, the championship leader who started from pole hoping to secure a fourth consecutive win, ultimately finished third. He lost second position to his teammate Norris just five laps from the finish. Regarding Verstappen`s Lap 1 pass, Piastri admitted, “I just braked too early. It was a good move by Max as well.” He added, “Disappointing obviously but we made a few wrong calls after that anyway,” suggesting strategic errors affected his race. He summarized his performance: “Not our best Sunday, so definitely a lot of things to look at and review. Well done to Max and Red Bull. It was a good move and they had pace today.”
Piastri`s race was hampered by a two-stop strategy and an ill-timed virtual safety car early on. However, a late safety car period helped him regain second place when Norris pitted for fresh tyres while Piastri remained on track. With the safety car ending with ten laps left, the contrasting tyre strategies set up a direct fight between the two McLarens. Norris, on newer tyres, quickly closed the gap and successfully overtook Piastri. Norris`s move was decisive, following an impressive earlier pass on George Russell.
The podium finish impacted the championship standings. Piastri`s lead over Norris is now reduced to 13 points, while Verstappen is 22 points behind Piastri. While the points are beneficial, Red Bull and Verstappen will be particularly encouraged by the car`s performance, which seemed stronger than McLaren`s just two weeks after their dominant one-two finish in Miami. The championship battle is set to continue at the next race in Monaco.
Lewis Hamilton achieved his best finish since joining Ferrari at the start of the year, taking fourth place in front of the Tifosi. Despite starting 12th after a difficult qualifying, strong strategy and better race pace allowed the seven-time champion to climb through the field on Sunday. Hamilton`s climb was assisted by teammate Charles Leclerc. Leclerc was running fourth after the safety car restart but was on older tyres and struggled to defend against Alex Albon`s Williams in the closing laps. On lap 60, while defending the inside line at Turn 1, Albon was forced off track onto the gravel. This allowed Hamilton to pass the Williams. Albon recovered to finish fifth, while Leclerc dropped to sixth, appearing frustrated with the outcome of his race.
George Russell was the top Mercedes finisher in seventh, despite starting third. Similar to Piastri, his early two-stop strategy proved detrimental, and he lost places at the end on older tyres following the safety car. Russell`s teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, retired from the race on Lap 46 due to a car issue, which triggered the safety car period.
Carlos Sainz secured eighth place for Williams (Note: Source text indicates Williams, however, Sainz races for Ferrari). Isack Hadjar took ninth for Racing Bulls, while Yuki Tsunoda finished tenth for Red Bull (Note: Source text indicates Red Bull, however, Tsunoda races for RB/AlphaTauri), recovering from a pit lane start after a qualifying crash.
Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Top 10 Results
| Driver | Team | Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:31:33.199 |
| 2. Lando Norris | McLaren | +6.109s |
| 3. Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +12.956s |
| 4. Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +14.356s |
| 5. Alex Albon | Williams | +17.945s |
| 6. Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +20.774s |
| 7. George Russell | Mercedes | +22.034s |
| 8. Carlos Sainz | Williams (Source error, races for Ferrari) | +22.898s |
| 9. Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | +23.586s |
| 10. Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull (Source error, races for RB) | +26.446s |
