Red Bull’s 1-2 finish closed the gap with Ferrari to 11 points in the team championship race. But Leclerc, who finished sixth, still holds a nearly 30-point lead over Verstappen in the driver’s championship.
IMOLA, Italy—Max Verstappen closed in on Charles Leclerc’s championship lead Sunday afternoon by taking a 20-second victory in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Enzo E Dino Ferrari circuit. Sergio Perez finished runner-up in the second Red Bull, giving the team a 1-2 finish and ruining the Scuderia’s home race. Lando Norris took third in the McLaren for the second year in a row.
Verstappen took the lead right from the start. The Dutchman had no trouble going through the grid, lapping drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, who finished the race in 13th place.
Max Verstappen: It’s always tough to achieve something like that (a 1-2 finish), but we were on it. The start was very important, but you have to always dictate the pace, and it’s always a bit more difficult initially. Everything was well managed.
A 5.9 seconds gap by lap 15 was between the two Red Bull pilots, and that increased by more than 40 seconds before all drivers changed tires on lap 18 because they were beginning to wear out. Verstappen ended up winning the race by 20 seconds over Perez, who had to battle Leclerc towards the end of the race. The Monegasque spun his Ferrari off the tightest chicane, coming out of Agua Minerali on lap 54. Although Leclerc recovered from the spin, he had to pit for a new front wing damaged in the spin.
Charles Leclerc: That (incident) was a big shame but it’s part of racing. P3 was the best I could do. We didn’t have the pace for much more, and I was too greedy and paid the price and lost potential points. For sure, Red Bull seem to be more competitive than they were in the first three races. We had the upper hand in Bahrain and Australia. Then they had it here and in Jeddah. It is very, very close, and I think it will be that way for the rest of the season.
The expected heavy rain never got close to the circuit, but the weather caused a big delay in establishing the DRS drag reduction system. It wasn’t until lap 34 that the drivers could use the system.
As for the rest of the field, Mercedes’s George Russell and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas battled each other just as they did last year here, with Russell coming out on top, finishing fourth, while his Finnish rival took fifth. Leclerc, despite his setback, came in sixth, while seventh went to an impressive Yuki Tsunoda in the Alpha Tauri.
Following a disappointing three races, Aston Martin finally scored double points. Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll finished eighth and tenth, respectively. Haas’s Kevin Magnussen took ninth.
Only two drivers retired from the race. Carlos Sainz Jr. got stuck in the gravel at Villeneuve after hitting McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap. At the same moment. Fernando Alonso Haas’s Mick Schumacher, damaging the right sidepod of his Alpine.
Next, the drivers will have to contend with an unfamiliar track and tropical weather in Miami, Florida. The Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix will be held on the first weekend of May.
