Max Verstappen took a very dominant win in Imola, closing the gap to Charles Leclerc after the Ferrari driver had a late spin. Lando Norris took a suprise podium, while mixed fortunes at Mercedes see George Russell 4th, but Lewis Hamilton 13th.
Red Bull secure the start
There had been plenty of rain before the race start, with more predicted during the race. All cars started on intermediate tyres.
It was a supreme start for both Red Bulls, and the pair led 1-2 into turn 1. Leclerc’s poor start dropped him to 4th as Norris jumped into 3rd. There was more woe yet for the Ferrari team as Sainz and Ricciardo came together in turn 1. Sainz was spun into the gravel and was beached, his second retirement in 2 races. Ricciardo was able to continue, but dropped very far down. Neither party recieved a penalty.
The safety car was called before the cars even reached sector 3.
The safety car came in on lap 4. Verstappen was uncontested into turn 1, while Leclerc was unable to make his way past Norris at the start. and Magnussen closed in behind.
Alonso started well but started dropping down significantly on lap 6. Somehow an entire chunk of sidepod broke off, exposing a lot of the car. He became the second retirement of the race, pitting on the same lap.
On lap 8, Leclerc finally made his way past Norris with a DRS-less overtake on the straight. The Tifosi were ecstatic, but he was already 6s behind the leader, Verstappen.
Russell had a phenomenal start to the race, climbing from 11th to 6th on the first lap. He squeezed past Magnussen for 5th on lap 12, but went wide on the exit of turn 2, giving the place back to the Haas. It only took half a lap for him to retake the place again and matters were made worse as Bottas found his way past as well.
Tense change for tyres
Ricciardo was the first to pit for slick tyres. The track was drying, but choices would depend on the speed the McLaren showed. He started setting green mini-sectors, which was enough for Vettel to pit, trying to break out of the long midfield train.
Initially, Leclerc and Verstappen stayed out while Perez pitted. This proved to be the wrong choice as Leclerc managed to come out in front after his stop. But, Perez made a superb move back into 2nd while Leclerc was having to heat up his tyres. It wasn’t long until the Ferrari was all over the back of the Red Bull, but he couldn’t find a way past immediately.
Hamilton’s poor stop was made worse as he almost collided with Ocon in the pits. The Alpine was released unsafely and was later penalised.
After a thrilling start, the race calmed down, due to a strange reluctance to activate DRS. The huge midfield train stayed in formation with Tsunoda, 8th, leading Stroll, Ocon, Albon, Gasly and then Hamilton.
Finally, DRS was enabled on lap 34. Despite this, Hamilton remained stuck behind Gasly, who was benefitting off of Albon’s DRS. Hamilton couldn’t find a way past, lap after lap, the Briton was close, but never enough to launch an overtake. Meanwhile, His team-mate was 9 places ahead in 5th.
Dramatic Ending
Unannouced, Leclerc pitted on lap 50, 13 laps to go. He seemed to be trying to go to the end, but now he had on a new set of softs. But, the Monagasque lost a place to Norris on the pit exit and would have to overtake.
This caused Perez to immediately duck for the pits. He was able to come out 2.5s ahead of Norris, who was being overtaken by Leclerc. Verstappen followed suit a lap later, he was comfortably 1st with a 15s lead.
Leclerc was able to close the gap to Perez almost immediately and was now hounding the back of the Red Bull. However, he was pushing too hard and spun through the chicane in Sector 3. He hit the barriers, but was able to pull away. He ducked immediately for the pits to fix his broken front wing. This promoted Norris into 3rd as Leclerc dropped to 9th.
Leclerc had it all to do, attempting to salvage some of the points he threw away. Fighting back, he was able to take Magnussen, Vettel and Tsunoda to take a disappointing 6th.
But, it was joy for Red Bull as the team came through in a dominant 1-2. Norris picked up a suprise podium, the second in a row at Imola.
Bottas closed up to the back of Russell for 4th late in the race. Russell was able to defend, despite the Alfa Romeo having DRS. It was a tense scene, but Russell held on to take a fantastic 4th, 9 places ahead of Hamilton.
Aston Martin took a double points finish with Vettel and Stroll 8th and 10th respectively. Tsunoda was ahead after a decent performance put him 7th, while Magnussen collected more points for the revived Haas team in 9th.
Full Race Result:
- Verstappen
- Perez +16s
- Norris +34s
- Russell +42s
- Bottas +43s
- Leclerc +56s
- Tsunoda +61s
- Vettel +70s
- Magnussen +75s
- Stroll +1 Lap
- Albon +1 Lap
- Gasly + 1Lap
- Hamilton +1 Lap
- Ocon +1 Lap
- Zhou + 1 Lap
- Latifi + 1 Lap
- Schumacher +1 Lap
- Ricciardo + 1 Lap
- Alonso RET
- Sainz RET
An interesting day for the championship battle after Verstappen took maximum points away from the weekend. Leclerc still leads, but will be devestated after throwing it away so late in the race. Red Bull are now only 11 points away in the constructors championship, giving Ferrari some work to do in Miami.
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
