Emilia-Romagna GP: Max Verstappen wins at Imola

IMOLA — Max Verstappen secured his second victory of the season at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, successfully holding off a strong challenge from McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who finished in second and third place, respectively.

Verstappen took the lead from pole-sitter Piastri at the very first corner of the race. He maintained his composure, particularly after a late safety car intervention, to clinch the 65th grand prix win of his career.

“The start itself wasn`t particularly great,” Verstappen commented after the race, “but 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 added that once in the lead, the car performed excellently. “Of course, that unleashed our pace because when we were in the lead, the car was good. I could look after my tyres.”

Championship leader Piastri, who started from pole position hoping to extend his three-race winning streak, ultimately finished third. He lost second place to his teammate Norris with just five laps remaining.

Reflecting on the opening lap overtake, Piastri stated, “I just braked too early. It was a good move by Max as well. Disappointing obviously but we made a few wrong calls after that anyway.” He concluded, “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 strategy, which included two pit stops and was impacted by an unfortunately timed virtual safety car early in the race, cost him positions. However, he was elevated back to second place under a late safety car period when Norris pitted for fresh tyres while Piastri stayed out.

The differing tyre strategies between the two McLaren drivers set up a direct battle when the safety car pulled into the pits with ten laps left. Norris, benefiting from significantly fresher rubber, quickly closed the gap to Piastri and executed a decisive overtake.

Norris`s move was sharp and followed a similarly impressive pass he had made on George Russell earlier in the race.

The podium result significantly tightened the standings at the top of the championship. Piastri`s lead over Norris was cut to just 13 points, and Verstappen reduced his gap to the leading McLaren driver to 22 points.

While the points haul is welcome, Verstappen and Red Bull will take particular comfort from the car`s performance. It appeared superior to the McLarens at Imola, a stark contrast to McLaren`s dominant one-two finish just two weeks prior in Miami. The next round of the championship will see the top contenders battle on the demanding streets of Monaco.

Lewis Hamilton secured his best result since joining Ferrari at the start of the year, finishing fourth in front of the Italian team`s home fans. Despite a poor qualifying that saw him start 12th, effective strategy calls and improved race pace allowed the seven-time world champion to make good progress through the field on Sunday.

Hamilton was helped into fourth place by his teammate Charles Leclerc, who was running fourth after the safety car but was on older tyres and tasked with defending against Alex Albon`s pursuing Williams in the closing laps.

On lap 60 of 63, as Leclerc defended the inside line at Turn 1, Albon was forced onto the gravel, which allowed Hamilton to move past the Williams. Albon ultimately finished fifth, while Leclerc, seemingly unhappy with how his afternoon unfolded, dropped to sixth.

George Russell was the highest-placed Mercedes driver, finishing in seventh place despite starting the race from third on the grid. Like Piastri, his early two-stop strategy proved detrimental, and he lost positions towards the end of the race when he was caught on older tyres after the safety car period.

Russell`s teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, did not finish the race. His Mercedes breaking down on Lap 46 was the incident that caused the safety car deployment.

Carlos Sainz finished eighth for Williams, ahead of Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls in ninth place and Yuki Tsunoda in tenth, who had started the race from the pit lane following a crash during qualifying.