Verstappen exhibition and double KO of Sainz and Alonso in Imola

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  • The champion finishes the weekend of the Emilia Romagna GP with two victories, on Saturday in the sprint race and this Sunday in the main

  • Alonso and Sainz have abandoned the first exchange after a rough start in wet conditions

Max Verstappen He has vindicated himself with a resounding victory at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and comes out of the weekend in Imola very strengthened, since he also won the first sprint race of the three that will be held this season on Saturday. The Dutch Red Bull driver added 8 points for his victory yesterday and today has added another 26 to his locker, which allows him to rise to the second place of the World Cup classification despite having two dropouts in the first three dates of the calendar.

charles leclerc maintains the leadership, still with a wide margin over Max (27 points), although for the Monegasque the weekend in Italy, against the dedicated Ferrari tifosi, has ended without the success that predicted the theoretical superiority of the F1-75 in this historic circuit. Verstappen has clearly won the game and has crossed the finish line seconded by his teammate Sergio Perez and by Lando Norris (McLaren) while Leclerc had to settle for sixth position after making a driving error in the decisive stage of the race, when he was third. An unforgivable mistake in the key of a championship.

Sainz and Alonso, eliminated

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix started badly and ended worse for Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso. The man from Madrid, who crashed under pressure on Friday when trying to improve his time in Q2 and yesterday starred in a excellent comeback in the sprint race (from 10th to 4th place), he went well this Sunday, but before completing the first corner he was eliminated after the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo caught up with him from behind, shifting his Ferrari into the gravel.

With no chance of rejoining the race, Carlos lamented bitterly over his car radio: “This is racing.” Ricciardo He was able to continue on the track and the incident gave way to a first safety car that was withdrawn four laps later. After the restart Alonso has returned to the pits with remarkable damage to your car.

Mick Schumacher had collided laterally with the Asturian’s A522 after the contact of Sainz and Ricciardo, with Bottas also involved and Fernando had continued in the race losing pieces of his car until he had no choice but to retire. The rain that fell before the race increased the risk at the start, with intermediate tires and a lot of spray on the track, and unfortunately the two Spanish drivers were the worst off.

The Red Bull, an ‘airplane’

Leclerc has not had the slightest chance this Sunday. Verstappen and Pérez have also left him behind at the start and the strategies have not helped the Monegasque either. Max made his only stop to mount the medium Pirelli on lap 19, the same as Leclerc, while Pérez had done it before. The Leclerc’s pit stop It was extremely slow (3.7) and when the championship leader got back on the track, with cold tires, ‘Checo’ easily caught up with him.

The two Red Bulls have increased their advantage with the passing of the laps, as the track dried up, in a race with less history and overtaking than those that inaugurated this new era of F1 in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The weather and changing asphalt conditions have not contributed to enhance the show and Verstappen has scored the victory, the third this year for him and the 22nd in his record, with relative ease. Ambitious, the champion has even taken advantage of his ‘free stop’ to finish off the softs, in search of the extra point for the fastest lap.

Hamilton, resigned

Leclerc has committed a serious pilot error with thirteen laps to go and hit the wall sideways, breaking the Ferrari’s wing, which had to change urgently, relegating it to ninth provisional position. The Monegasque has taken many risks to recover positions and minimize damage with a sixth place that has left the stands of Imola ‘frozen’.

The weekend has been a ‘hammer’ for the aspirations of ferrari. But also for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champion already seems resigned to the fact that this year he does not have a car to fight for the privileged positions and his statements give him away: “There is no light at the end of the tunnel,” says Lewis.

The problems of degradation and ‘porpoising’ of the W13 are relentlessly penalizing a team accustomed to dominating and that has chained the last eight world crowns. Today, Hamilton has had to face a tough battle at the back of the pack and has finished 13th, while his partner George Russell has ‘saved the furniture’ with a fourth position that does not serve to soften the crisis.

Emilia Romagna GP

Race. 63 laps. 309,049km

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:32.07.986

2. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) at 16″527

3. Lando Norris (McLaren) at 34″834

4. George Russell (Mercedes) at 42″506

5. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) at 43″181

6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) at 56.072

13. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1 lap

Fernando Alonso (Alpine) 6 v.

Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 0 v.

This is how the World Cup goes (4/22, + 1 sprint race)

1. Charles Leclerc (MON) 86 points

2. Max Verstappen (PB) 59

3. Sergio Perez (MEX) 54

4. George Russell (GBR) 49

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7. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 28

15. Fernando Alonso (ESP) 2



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