Max Verstappen has surged to an impressive second victory of the season at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the Dutchman having snatched P1 at the start before holding his position ahead of the McLaren pair in an eventful afternoon that featured Virtual Safety Car and full Safety Car phases.
The race got underway in exciting fashion as polesitter Oscar Piastri initially launched well off the line – only for Verstappen to make a stunning overtake through the Tamburello chicane, resulting in the World Champion going on to build a lead in the laps that followed.
Piastri then joined a number of drivers who made an early pit stop, having stopped for the hard compound on Lap 14, but the call did not seem to work out for the Australian, with Verstappen staying out on track to further extend his advantage in first place.
As questions persisted over whether a one-stop or two-stop strategy was the way forward – with around half of the field remaining out following that earlier flurry of action in the pits for the other half – the picture was turned on its head when a Virtual Safety Car was called on Lap 29 after Esteban Ocon pulled onto the grass in the Haas.
This allowed for those who had yet to stop to visit the pits without losing much time – and this most crucially included Verstappen, who pitted before emerging back on track with a staggering lead of around 20s from Norris in P2.
But there was more drama to come later on when a Safety Car was deployed owing to Kimi Antonelli pulling off track on Lap 46 due to an issue with his Mercedes, allowing Verstappen to stop again – as did Norris, while the other McLaren of Piastri did not, raising questions over whether the papaya team would opt to let the Briton move ahead of his team mate upon the restart.
The restart was executed flawlessly by Verstappen, who went on to clinch a fourth consecutive win at Imola in Red Bull’s 400th Grand Prix start – while, six seconds behind him, Norris had overtaken Piastri for P2, with the Australian then doing enough to hold off Lewis Hamilton behind him in fourth following a solid recovery drive for Ferrari after their Qualifying woes.
Alex Albon continued a good run for Williams by taking P5, having won out in a feisty late-race battle with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc that left the Monegasque in P6. George Russell, meanwhile, took P7 as the sole Mercedes finisher following Antonelli’s retirement, while Carlos Sainz added to William’s tally in P8.
AS IT HAPPENED
One day on from an action-packed Qualifying session – which saw championship leader Piastri claim his third pole position of the season ahead of Verstappen and Russell – it was finally time for the paddock to switch their attentions to the main event, the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
Two changes had been made to the starting order prior to the 63-lap race getting underway, with Colapinto receiving a one-place grid penalty for a rule breach during Qualifying, having entered the fast lane of the pit lane before a session restart time had been confirmed following a red flag in Q1.
This meant that the Argentinian – in his first event back on the F1 grid since his nine-race stint as a substitute for Williams in 2024 – would line up in P16 for Alpine, with the returning driver surely hoping for a better Sunday after ultimately crashing out of Qualifying.
Tsunoda, meanwhile, was set to start from the pit lane. Having suffered a dramatic incident on Saturday that saw his car spin into the gravel and flip over during the early stages of Q1, the Red Bull team subsequently made changes to the Japanese driver’s RB21 under parc ferme conditions.
Once the cars had assembled on the grid as the time for lights out neared, it was confirmed after the tyre blankets had been removed that the majority of the field would start on the medium compound, with Hamilton, Antonelli, Hulkenberg, Bearman and Tsunoda the exceptions on the hard rubber.
There was a thrilling start to the race as Verstappen took the fight to Piastri
After the formation lap had been completed and the race kicked off at 1500 local time in warm and dry conditions, Piastri initially launched away strongly – but Verstappen was not to be deterred and the World Champion pulled off an incredible overtake by squeezing through the Tamburello chicane to snatch the lead.
Behind them Russell had a solid start before having to fend off a chasing Norris, while Leclerc had gained a position to move up into P10. And as the action settled following the first couple of laps, the Monegasque looked to be in a fighting mood following Ferrari’s disappointing Saturday as he scrapped with Gasly, resulting in the Alpine running wide through the gravel.
Elsewhere Hamilton was also looking racy as he tried to find a way past Antonelli in a duel for P11, with the Mercedes ultimately holding the position. Up front, meanwhile, Verstappen had built a lead of 1.6s from Piastri by Lap 5, the pair followed by Russell, Norris, Alonso, Sainz, Albon, Stroll, Leclerc and Hadjar.
While Imola might be a tricky circuit to overtake on, there were plenty of drivers trying to pressure their opponents in battles across the pack. Norris was hot on the tail of Russell in the scrap for third, while Alonso had a chasing Sainz behind him.
That fight between Russell and Norris continued to heat up, leading to Norris trying to make a move on Lap 9 before an attempt one tour later saw the McLaren briefly dip his wheels onto the grass. “I’m not sure how I’m going to make it to the target lap, pushing like this,” Russell radioed in, voicing concerns about his tyre life.
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