IMOLA, Italy — Wet conditions at the start and a dry track later on made little difference as world champion Max Verstappen turned in dominant performance to win Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
Verstappen and Oracle Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez produced a one-two finish for the team.
“To have a weekend like this for both of us with a one-two for the Team is just incredible,” Verstappen said. “It was a very lovely Sunday! Everything today was well executed, coming into the weekend I didn’t expect it to be like this. It was more or less a perfect weekend, everything went well for us and we’ll of course enjoy today. I scored the maximum amount of points this weekend and we can be really proud of that as a Team, it’s a great boost. Today was all about judging the conditions, making the right calls and staying very focused and I think we did that very well. We need to keep focused and we know that at the next race we need to be up there again and keep this going.”
But the story of the race may have been the struggle of the Ferrari team in its home race were also part of the story.
The Ferraris handled by point leader Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz each had off-course excursions, with Sainz involved in a wreck with Daniel Ricciardo on the opening and Leclerc spinning while running third late in the race. He recovered to finish sixth.
Verstappen led the field to the green flag with Perez following in wet conditions.
With the track drying, drivers began to swap from inters to mediums on lap 19 – Perez coming in before Verstappen, who led Leclerc into the pits one lap later. The Monegasque emerged just ahead of the Mexican, but Perez skated past for second with warmer tires and then kept the Ferrari at bay.
A late gamble to pit for softs from P3 from Leclerc saw the Red Bulls follow suit and retain the lead, but on lap 54 – again in chase of Perez – the championship leader spun and hit the wall at Variante Alta.
McLaren driver Lando Norris finished third, while Mercedes’ George Russell moved up seven places to finish fourth, holding off Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, who finished fifth.
Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh for AlphaTauri, passing Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel late on – while Leclerc finished ahead of the pair with his late rescue effort.
Haas’s Kevin Magnussen ran as high as fifth, bet fell to ninth at the checkered flag, while Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton finished 13th, a lap behind the leaders.