Imola: Max Verstappen held off a challenge from McLaren’s Lando Norris to win the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Sunday and extend his Formula 1 championship lead.
Australian ace Oscar Piastri finished fourth for McLaren after qualifying second but being demoted on the grid when he received a three-place penalty for impeding.
Max Verstappen en route to winning the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images
Verstappen started on pole position and stayed ahead of Norris at the start but was put under pressure by the McLaren driver again near the end, winning by less than a second.
It was the defending champion’s fifth win in seven grand prix races this year and followed Verstappen being beaten by Norris in Miami two weeks ago.
Norris’ second place on Sunday underlined the McLaren team’s credentials to be the closest challenger to Verstappen and Red Bull this season. Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari.
Verstappen suggested he was relieved to make it to the chequered flag as Norris loomed behind him.
“Especially the last 10, 15 laps … I had no grip any more. I was really sliding a lot. I saw Lando closing in,” Verstappen said. “It’s very difficult when the tyres are not working any more and you have to go flat out, so I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes. Luckily, we didn’t and super happy, of course, to win here today.”
In the end, Verstappen crossed the line just 0.7 seconds ahead of Norris.
“It hurts me to say it, but one or two more laps, I think I would have had him,” Norris said afterwards. “It would have been beautiful, but just not today.”
It’s never easy to overtake on the narrow Imola track, and risk-taking was further discouraged this year when asphalt run-off areas on key corners were replaced with gravel traps.
Oscar Piastri was dropped to fifth on the grid because of a penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen in a Haas. He got ahead of Sainz at the pit stops to finish ahead of the Spanish driver.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his teammate George Russell were sixth and seventh after a difficult weekend for Mercedes.
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez started 11th after a mistake in qualifying and finished eighth, while Yuki Tsunoda took ninth for RB and Lance Stroll took the last point in 10th for Aston Martin.
With the victory, Verstappen opened up a 48-point lead over Leclerc, who moved above Perez into second.
It was an emotional day at Imola for fans of Formula 1. Prior to the race, four-time championship-winning driver Sebastian Vettel drove the legendary Ayrton Senna’s 1993 McLaren around the track.
Senna, a three-time world champion, died on May 1, 1994 during what was then the San Marino Grand Prix when his car left the track on lap 7, crashing into a concrete retaining wall at around 233km/h.
AP, Reuters
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