Formula One champion Max Verstappen dominated in a victory for Red Bull over Ferrari at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, Italy, to the dismay of the sea of red-clad “tifosi” on Sunday.
Verstappen won from pole, setting the fastest lap and taking his second win of the season as he led teammate Sergio Pérez to Red Bull’s first one-two finish since Malaysia in 2016.
“Beautiful Sunday,” Verstappen radioed his Red Bull team on what was actually a dreary, cloudy and misty race day.
But the Dutchman scored maximum points over the weekend – he also won the sprint qualifying race on Saturday – and led Red Bull in their embarrassment at Ferrari on what Ferrari hoped would be their celebratory weekend on home soil. .
“It’s always difficult to pull off something like that,” Verstappen said of the perfect weekend. “We were on it. With the weather, you never know how competitive you are going to be, but I think as a team we did everything right and this one-two is well deserved.”
Lando Norris was third for McLaren.
Mighty Max 💪
What a weekend it has been for the Dutchman #ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/5ckvUFCGJl
–@F1
It was a disastrous race for Ferrari, racing on home soil and hoping to celebrate a return to F1 dominance. Charles Leclerc entered Sunday as the championship leader with two wins from the first three races and Carlos Sainz Jr. celebrated a two-year contract extension this weekend in Italy.
But Leclerc couldn’t get past Verstappen at the start and never competed. Sainz went off course on the first lap to ruin his race, and Leclerc’s attempt to save the day for Ferrari ended when he spun Perez’s race for second place.
He eventually finished sixth.
Leclerc had a 46-point lead in the standings over reigning champion Verstappen at the start of the weekend, but Verstappen narrowed the gap to 27 points and moved into second place.
“I was too greedy and paid the price and lost seven potential points,” Leclerc told Sky Sports. “It’s a shame, there are seven points that are valuable at the end of the championship and this should not happen again.”
Verstappen rises to the occasion, Leclerc stays behind
Leclerc passed Verstappen at the start of the sprint qualifying race on Saturday, but on race day Verstappen got off to a good start. Meanwhile, Leclerc collapsed as Pérez and Norris passed him.
Leclerc eventually made it to third position and was chasing the Red Bulls when he went off course.
Leclerc exited pit road ahead of Pérez, but the Mexican driver had warmer tires and was able to get in and reclaim second place. Leclerc was still chasing Perez for second with nine laps to go when he made a rare mistake and went off course. Although he was able to leave, his Ferrari was damaged and Leclerc had to pit.
The race featured a poignant late battle between Mercedes newcomer George Russell and Valtteri Bottas, the driver he replaced. The two dropped to the final lap for fourth position, with Russell holding off the veteran for position, having started the race 11th.
Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile. he continued with his early fights and finished 13th. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff apologized to Hamilton over the radio for the “undrivable” car Hamilton was given in Italy.
The seven-time world champion lost the title to Verstappen in last year’s season finale in one of the best championship fights in decades. On Sunday, Verstappen passed Hamilton on lap 39.
Reference-www.cbc.ca