IMOLA, Italy – Max Verstappen was lights out during Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, easily capturing his first Formula One victory of the season as chaos ensued behind him.
Verstappen was quick to assert himself, launching from third to first on the opening lap in soggy conditions to take the lead from Lewis Hamilton before the first lap was completed.
The Red Bull driver would remain the leader until lap 27, when he hit the pits to switch from intermediate to medium tires. Hamilton inherited the lead, but only for one lap as Verstappen quickly returned to the race lead when Hamilton made his stop.
Hamilton was still within striking distance at that point, but it wouldn’t last long as the seven-time Formula One champion locked up and slid into a gravel trap at Tosa. The incident dropped him from second to eighth.
Moments later Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was involved in a major crash with the Williams driven by George Russell that saw both cars destroyed as they fought for position at the back of the top-10.
The resulting crash and cleanup led to a red flag, which saved Hamilton as he was able to make up a lot of lost time. However, he was still deep in the pack with Verstappen at the front of the field ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
When racing resumed Norris quickly dispatched Leclerc for second, but Verstappen easily pulled away. Meanwhile, Hamilton began his march back through the pack. By lap 43 Hamilton had made it to fifth and on lap 50 he moved into fourth. Five laps later Hamilton dispatched Leclerc for third to return to the podium.
Finally, with only a handful of laps left, Hamilton blew by Norris to move into second. All that happened more than 20 seconds behind Verstappen, who cruised to his first victory of the season and his first Formula One victory in Italy.
“It was very challenging out there, especially in the beginning,” Verstappen said. “It was very hard to stay on track to be honest. It was very slippery. Then of course the tires degraded in the wet and choosing the right moment to go on slicks is never easy. I think we managed everything well.”
Hamilton, who retained the championship lead by one point over Verstappen, admitted he simply made a mistake when he locked up and slid into the gravel trap while running second midway through the race.
“On my side, it was not the greatest of days. First time I’ve made a mistake in a long time,” Hamilton said. “I’m grateful I was able to bring the car home still.”
Norris held on to finish third to claim the final spot on the podium, his second in Formula One. Leclerc faded to fourth at the finish, with his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. taking fifth.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was sixth, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly promoted to seventh after Lance Stroll was penalized five seconds for an illegal overtake.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was originally scored eighth, but he was penalized 30 seconds for breaching the rolling restart procedure. That dropped him out of the points and elevated Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso to ninth and 10th, respectively.