F1: Verstappen goes flag-to-flag to win at Imola

Defending world champion Max Verstappen did not put a wheel wrong in wet then drying track conditions and led flag-to-flag to win the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola by 16.527s.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate finished 2nd to give the Red Bull team a 1-2 finish to rub salt into the wounds of the Ferrari team that self-destructed in front of their home crowd.

Carlos Sainz Jr. never completed a lap when he tangled with Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap, and then Charles Leclerc, trying to get past Sergio Perez for 2nd when he ran over a curb and he spun at the Variante Alta, lightly tapping the barrier and breaking a front wing. Leclerc recovered to finish 6th.

Seven points lost for Leclerc for dropping from third to sixth, plus the bonus point that went begging.

Lando Norris brought his #4 McLaren home a lonely third to complete the podium.

George Russell finished 4th for Mercedes, just ahead of Valtteri Bottas in 5th.

Credit to Russell for rescuing a brilliant fourth on a very difficult weekend for his team. A great start set up his race, and he kept calm under extreme pressure from Bottas late on.

Russell schooled his teammate Lewis Hamilton once again – 4th for Russell and 14th for Hamilton in the same car.

To rub salt in his wounds, Verstappen lapped Hamilton easily and motored away.

In winning his career 22nd F1 race, Max Verstappen took maximum points on the weekend by winning the Sprint Race Saturday, setting fastest lap today (1 point) and winning the race going away and moves into 2nd place in points behind Leclerc 89 to59. Perez is third with 54.

Verstappen has two wins on the year now, to tie Leclerc’s two wins, but his 2 DNFs means he is behind Leclerc in points.

“Already yesterday and the day before, we were on it, and it looked like a strong weekend,” said a happy Verstappen.

“As a team we did everything well, and this 1-2 is well deserved. Start was important but also judging conditions, when to swap to the slicks. Everything was well managed.”

“It was really intense, the fight [with Leclerc]. I think the most important thing was not making mistakes, in these conditions, it was so tricky,” said Perez. “We have been so unlucky, it’s been a difficult start for us [this year] but we deserved this.”

“An amazing race, an amazing weekend to be honest,” said 3rd-place Norris. “The team deserve it, from where we were in race one to a podium, it’s amazing. I like these conditions, same as last year!”

Nice comeback for AlphaTauri and Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver, who lives just a few kilometers from the circuit, scored a convincing seventh place on his F1 debut at Imola after starting from 12th position. Behind Tsunoda, eighth and tenth place for the Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll, while Kevin Magnussen is ninth for Haas.

Alexander Albon (11th on Williams) and Pierre Gasly (12th on AlphaTauri) followed, while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was only 13th on Mercedes, ahead of Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Guanyu Zhou (who started from the pits on Alfa Romeo), Nicholas Latifi (Willliams), Mick Schumacher (Haas) and Ricciardo.

For Schumacher the race was compromised by a collision with Fernando Alonso at the start, as a result of which the son of 7-time world champion Michael lost several positions, while the Alpine driver was forced to retire a few laps later.

Race Results – 63 Laps