Max Verstappen led home a Red Bull Racing 1-2 in Imola as Charles Leclerc’s late spin threw away an opportunity for Ferrari to finish on the podium.
The current world champion made a great start in slippery conditions following a pre-race shower at Imola to jump rival Leclerc and then he took control of the race with a run of fastest laps.
With Leclerc losing a position to Perez into the opening sequence of corners, Saturday sprint race winner Verstappen did not look under threat as he went on to win by 16.5 seconds.
Ferrari had rolled the dice with a late pitstop to put Leclerc on the fastest available tyre before Red Bull did the same, but as Leclerc attempted to reel in the leaders, he spun to sixth.
The full grid opted to start on intermediates, all running a brand-new set of Pirelli except for Lewis Hamilton, who instead selected a set of scrubbed grooved tyres.
Verstappen overcame his wheelspin issues that hampered his sprint getaway by launching cleanly and pulling from the left-side of the grid to cover any potential threat off the line.
But Leclerc was much slower away, allowing Perez to get the jump on the Ferrari for second and then he had to defend from Norris, who squeezed the Ferrari into fourth at Tamburello.
There, Carlos Sainz torrid run of form continued as he ended up beached in the gravel after tangling with Daniel Ricciardo through the second part of the chicane.
It appeared as though Ricciardo touched the kerb and slid wide to tag Sainz into a spin – the incident passed without investigation. Ricciardo subsequently pitted and resumed down in P18.
Sainz was then stuck on the outside and duly retired as Mick Schumacher dropped from P10 to P17 after a half-spin, and as his rear-axle slid he tagged the sidepod of Fernando Alonso.
The safety car was eventually called at the end of the opening lap to pick up leader Verstappen, with Perez in second over Norris, Leclerc and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.
George Russell, meanwhile, enjoyed a lightning launch to progress from P11 into sixth, as the Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll made similar progress to climb four spots.
Verstappen turned down the choice from the pitwall to dive in for slicks and the rest of field stuck to their intermediates despite reports of the track drying.
The safety car pulled in at the end of lap four, and the Red Bulls aced the restart to run away by 1.5 seconds over Norris, who covered off a potential challenge from Leclerc into Tamburello.
It took until lap eight for Leclerc to demote the McLaren. Norris oversteered out of Rivazza to allow Leclerc to latch onto his slipstream and dart past on the inside into Tamburello.
From there, the Ferrari driver had a 6.2 seconds deficit to Verstappen and sat 3.3 seconds adrift of Perez.
Over the next seven tours, those gaps condensed to leave Verstappen in front by 5.5 seconds over his Red Bull teammate as Leclerc sat 1.9 seconds in arrears of Perez.
Verstappen then indicated over team radio that he was ready for slick tyres in the event of a safety car but remained on track for the time being as Ricciardo rolled the dice on mediums.
Ricciardo immediately started a run of personal best sector times to indicate the crossover from inters to the yellow-walled C4 Pirellis.
Although the Ferrari crew emerged into the pitlane, Verstappen and Leclerc stayed put as Perez and Russell – who had eventually fought his way past Magnussen at Variante Alta after running deep into Tamburello – were the leading runners to dive in.
Leclerc had clear air to close the 8 seconds gap to Verstappen until next time around, on lap 19, the top two shot into their pit boxes.
Leclerc came out in front of Perez but with the new-for-2022 tyre temperature regulations, struggled on the cooler rubber and fell back to third.
Perez, having passed at the Villeneuve chicane, again provided a buffer for Verstappen who stretched the legs of the RB18 to lead by 7.5 seconds.
Leclerc, now with his tyres up to temperature, might have repassed Perez for second after the Mexican locked his front-left into Variante Alta and skipped the chicane to hit the grass.
But while Leclerc could close, with DRS still disabled despite the whole field switching to mediums, he could not pass and again settled in behind the Red Bull.
Leclerc had struggled, unlike Verstappen, to manage the graining of the front-right tyre in the sprint. Verstappen looked to have retained his superiority as his lead exceeded 10s by lap 32.
The defending champion began to dip into the low one minute, 20 seconds each lap, running 0.3 seconds quicker than Perez, and even lapping the struggling Mercedes of Hamilton on lap 40.
With Leclerc’s pursuit of Perez fading, Ferrari called him in for a set of softs on lap 50 and he only took one DRS zone to streak past Norris to resume in third place.
Red Bull responded over the next two laps by pitting first Perez and then Verstappen for softs, which brought Leclerc onto Perez’s six.
Leclerc had a seven-tenth gap only to Perez but on lap 53, he clattered the kerbs at the Variante Alta chicane and spun to the outside wall.
He broke an endplate although hit the wall square on to avoid suspension damage, resuming to pit for a new front wing and another set of softs and returned to the track down in ninth place.
That relieved the pressure on the Red Bull as Verstappen who, despite reporting some lap drops of rain, crossed the line to take his second full GP victory of the season, the same tally as Leclerc.
He landed the point for fastest lap to boot.
Perez delivered second place over Norris, who completed the podium another 18.3 seconds behind.
Russell bagged fourth, despite Mercedes not adjusting his front-wing aero balance at his pitstop, but he still came out on top in an entertaining late scrap with Valtteri Bottas.
Leclerc recovered to sixth after a late show of damage limitation to fight past Vettel and Tsunoda, while Magnussen and Stroll completed the top ten.
Alexander Albon’s much improved pace on Sunday for Williams merited P11 ahead of Gasly, while Hamilton was unable to pass the AlphaTauri despite a protracted chase.
Ocon landed P14 following a five-second penalty for an unsafe release during the switch from inters to slicks, which forced Hamilton to lift off in the pitlane and drop a place.
Zhou was P15 over Nicholas Latifi and Schumacher, who spun for the second time, while Ricciardo stopped for a set of hard tyres before rounding out the finishers in P18.
So a perfect weekend for Max Verstappen. Pole position, sprint race winner and victorious in the main Grand Prix. With his championship rival Charles Leclerc only taking P6, this result is much needed for the sake of the title.
Imola race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.07.986
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 16.527
3 Lando Norris McLaren 34.834
4 George Russell Mercedes 42.506
5 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 43.181
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56.072
7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 61.110
8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 70.892
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 75.260
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
11 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 lap
13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +1 lap
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
15 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams +1 lap
17 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
18 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1 lap
– Fernando Alonso Alpine DNF
– Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari DNF
Imola race review as reported by Formula1.com.
Max Verstappen won a dramatic wet-dry Emilia Romagna Grand Prix over Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez as Ferrari couldn’t deliver on home turf – Charles Leclerc spinning late on to finish sixth after Carlos Sainz retired.
The Dutchman topped Saturday’s Sprint and led off the line on Sunday, team mate Perez joining him at the front – while Leclerc momentarily dropped to fourth. The Safety Car emerged on the opening lap as Daniel Ricciardo tipped Carlos Sainz into the gravel and out of the race for the second Grand Prix.
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 P2 with warmer tyres 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. He dropped down to ninth having had to pit for a new nose and softs, and recovered only to P6 at the flag.
Lando Norris therefore took the final podium place, promoted twice with Sainz retiring and Leclerc going off track. Mercedes’ George Russell enjoyed a brilliant start and was up seven places to P4 as the chequered flag loomed, holding off Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas by under a second despite a late duel with the driver he replaced at the Silver Arrows.
Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh for AlphaTauri, passing Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel (P8) late on – while Leclerc finished ahead of the pair with his late rescue effort.
Haas’s Kevin Magnussen ran as high as P5 thanks to another blistering start but fell back down the order to ninth. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10, a double-points haul for the team that entered Imola on zero.
Alex Albon’s solid showing put him 11th, ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly – who couldn’t pry his way past even with DRS (which was activated when the track was deemed dry enough on Lap 34). Lewis Hamilton was next, the Mercedes driver having been unceremoniously lapped by Verstappen on Lap 40, to finish 13th – Esteban Ocon finishing 11th but dropping to 14th thanks to a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.
Zhou Guanyu started from the pit lane after his Sprint crash, the Alfa Romeo driver taking P15 ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi.
In 17th was Mick Schumacher, the Haas driver having spun twice on Sunday afternoon – while Daniel Ricciardo was last and 18th after his Lap 1 tangle with Sainz, pitting again for hards midway through the race in a fruitless strategy.
Along with Sainz, compatriot Fernando Alonso was the other DNF having lost a chunk of his sidepod, Schumacher having lost control and hit the Alpine’s flanks on Lap 1.
Rain may have washed away the glorious weather that graced the thousands of fans at Imola in the morning, but it did little to dampen their spirits – tifosi painting the grandstands red, smatterings of blue and white among them for AlphaTauri’s home race. The clouds let up during the laps to the grid, which were conducted on intermediate compounds – but there was still a risk of precipitation in the air.
After taking P1 from pole in the Sprint, Max Verstappen ensured he’d line up ahead of Charles Leclerc, while Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz made serious moves on Saturday in the Sprint to occupy the front row for this Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Also in the air was a sense of jeopardy for Ferrari, who overnight changed parts on all of their engines – including those of customer teams Haas and Alfa Romeo – and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the 14th-placed starter having noticed hiccups on his power unit on the laps to the grid, with assurances that the problem would be fixed.
The lights went out under grey skies, the whole field on intermediate tyres – Zhou Guanyu starting from the pit lane – in chase of Verstappen, who led away with Perez moving to second. Cue heartbreak for the Ferrari faithful: Daniel Ricciardo collided with Sainz at Tamburello, sending the Ferrari out – and bringing out the Safety Car.
Leclerc lost out too, down in fourth behind Lando Norris, who pipped him into Turn 2; the winners in that chaos were Kevin Magnussen, going from P8 to P5, ahead of George Russell (P11 to P6). Lance Stroll also enjoyed the opening tour, making it from P15 to P11 while team mate Sebastian Vettel was up to ninth from P13.
The race restarted for Lap 5 of 64, Red Bull retaining their one-two for the time being, while Norris held strong in P3 ahead of Leclerc – until Lap 8, when the Ferrari swept by on the main straight. The Dutchman was three seconds ahead of team mate Perez by that point, Leclerc another three seconds back.
The dry line was prominent by Lap 10 and drivers were hunting for some wet patches to soothe their searing inter tyres – the racers holding out for what was billed as an incoming shower.
Russell, up five places thanks to a brilliant start, provided the fireworks at this point in a stunning duel with Magnussen for P5. He stalked the Haas from Lap 11 to 13, the Dane keeping his elbows out at multiple points and almost losing out to Russell at Turn 2 on Lap 12, but just about keeping his place. The Silver Arrow finally got past at Variante Alta with a stunning move on Lap 13.
That battle helped Bottas close up and pry P6 off the Haas driver a lap later at Rivazza.
Back at the front, Leclerc was reeling in Perez at a race of knots, just 1.3s behind the Mexican who was in turn six seconds behind his team mate on Lap 15 – Verstappen still stretching his legs.
No rain yet so the tyres were suffering, and it was Ricciardo who took the risk to pit for mediums on Lap 18, perhaps hoping to salvage something after his Lap 1 collision with Sainz. That opened up the window.
Ferrari’s pit crew then emerged but Leclerc didn’t come in for a new set. Rather, it was Red Bull who reacted first and sent Perez in for mediums. On Lap 20, Verstappen would lead Leclerc in – the Dutchman enjoying a stop 1.4 seconds faster than his rival’s – after which the whole field was on yellow-banded slicks.
Leclerc would emerge just ahead of Perez, but the Mexican’s tyres were warmer and he squirmed past into the opening chicane on Lap 2. It seemed that Red Bull’s strategy had worked, and they were back on course for a one-two… albeit with Leclerc lurking.
Leclerc would have a look on Lap 22 but he couldn’t make it past, and gave his tyres some respite before closing back in on Lap 29 when Perez went off track. With no DRS yet, however, the pass for P2 would be that much harder. Verstappen continued, now 9.5 seconds in the lead.
On Lap 34, conditions were deemed dry enough for DRS to be enabled.
Unaffected, Verstappen stretched his legs further, symbolically lapping then-14th-placed Hamilton on Lap 41 with the reigning champion now 12 seconds ahead of his team mate.
Lap 50 saw Leclerc come in for soft tyres, triggering Perez then Verstappen to pit for the same compounds on the following laps. Perez was now put into the clutches of the Ferrari and once again had to mount a staunch defence if he was to seal the Red Bull one-two.
That was the case until Leclerc spun and tapped the wall at Variante Alta on Lap 53 – causing him to drop down to P9 as he pitted for a new front wing. On another set of soft tyres, he recovered to P6 with late passes on Vettel and Tsunoda.
Verstappen cruised to a win by 16.5 seconds over team mate Perez, the Driver of The Day clawing his way back into the championship fight with a decisive victory. Faltering on home turf, Ferrari’s woes allowed Norris to take the final podium spot for McLaren.
In P4 was Russell, 0.6s ahead of ex-Mercedes driver Bottas – the Alfa Romeo driver having chased the Silver Arrow late on to no avail. Seventh-place Yuki Tsunoda overtook Magnussen with DRS on Lap 48 and took another off Vettel on Lap 54 – useful points for AlphaTauri just a few miles away from their Faenza factory despite the Japanese driver struggling for traction mid-race.
Vettel finished eighth, his team mate Stroll 10th – both Aston Martins bringing home points having entered Imola without any. Between them was Magnussen, the Dane falling to P9 despite running as high as P5 after another great start.
Alex Albon took a brilliant P11 for Williams, his pace on mediums good enough to keep AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly behind by 0.6s, Lewis Hamilton another seven-tenths off in P13 as the Mercedes driver just couldn’t make his way past, despite getting agonisingly close after DRS opened up on Lap 35.
Esteban Ocon finished 11th from 16th, but was classified 14th, thanks to a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release on his pit stop, which saw the Alpine bang wheels with Hamilton’s Mercedes in the pit lane.
Zhou Guanyu’s Sprint crash saw him start from the pits and finish 15th for Alfa Romeo – ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi in 16th.
Mick Schumacher spun at the start, just after Sainz had been beached at Tamburello. The Haas driver suffered another spin on Lap 25 in a duel with Latifi, to finish 17th.
After his Lap 1 tangle with Sainz, Ricciardo had been the first driver to pit for slicks. The Australian came in once again at the halfway point for a set of hard tyres but only finished 18th – with Alonso and Sainz the two retirees on Sunday.
Not Ferrari’s finest day, but the fans were in full voice as they watched Red Bull’s delighted duo spray champagne on the podium with an equally jubilant Norris.
McLaren’s Lando Norris commented that hard work and tricky weather was key to a surprise Imola Formula 1 podium. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Lando Norris thinks a combination of hard work by McLaren and tricky damp conditions helped him pull off a surprise third place in Formula 1’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
After a poor start to the 2022 season where McLaren was well off the pace at the season opener in Bahrain, the Woking-based team has staged an impressive recovery to haul itself closer the front.
At an Imola track where he also finished third last year, Norris qualified third in the rain-hit Q3 session on Friday.
Although he dropped down to fifth in the sprint, a consistent drive on Sunday netted him his first podium finish of the campaign behind the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Norris had run fourth in the closing stages when Charles Leclerc’s spin at Variante Alta forced the Ferrari to the pits for a new front wing.
Norris said that to have netted a podium after outqualifying Perez and Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz, who was unable to participate in Q3 due to a Q2 crash, had not been anticipated as he headed to the weekend.
Asked if it was a surprise to follow Red Bull home, Norris said: “Yeah, of course. It was an amazing race and amazing weekend to be honest.
“To beat one Red Bull and one Ferrari is much better than we’re expecting always, so I’m happy. The team deserve it.
“From where we were in race one, to now scoring a podium, I think they all deserve it. So top job to the team.”
While Norris was helped to the podium by several front runners hitting trouble, the Briton says McLaren should be given a lot of credit for the efforts it had made to make the MCL36 more competitive.
Pushed on where the return to form had come from, Norris said: “I mean, the boring answer is it’s just hard work.
“There is a lot of a lot of time and effort everyone’s putting in back in the factory and here.
“It was a mixture of this and the tricky conditions this weekend. So we’ve been able to capitalise on that as well.
“I love these conditions. So I always do quite well, and it was the same last year pretty much.
“It’s a mixture of just hard work and a great weekend, and it all pays off.”
Red Bull Racing’s Christian Horner commented that this 1-2 is “one of our best-ever results”. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Christian Horner believes Red Bull’s 1-2 finish at Imola stands as one of the team’s best Formula 1 results and a perfect response to its Australia disappointment.
Max Verstappen controlled proceedings at the front of the field from pole position to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, negotiating the switch from wet to dry conditions well before ultimately crossing the line 16 seconds clear of teammate Sergio Perez.
Perez enjoyed a close battle with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc through much of the race, but saw out the closing stages without any pressure after Leclerc spun off at the Variante Alta with 11 laps remaining.
The result marked Red Bull’s first 1-2 finish since Malaysia 2016, and meant it left Imola dropping just a single point across the entire sprint race weekend.
“It was just the rebound that we needed after the disappointment of Australia a couple of weeks ago,” Horner said after the race.
“[It was a ] phenomenal team performance because we took a bit of a risk coming into the weekend with a couple of small parts we introduced the car, which is always tricky when you only got one session.
“But we attacked the weekend from the word go, and both drivers have been unbelievable. Both Max and Checo have driven brilliantly this weekend and that 1-2 finish, all credit to the team.
“Picking ourselves up after the disappointment of Australia, to come back with a result like that here in Imola was one of our best-ever results.”
The result marked an important response from Red Bull after its saw Verstappen retire from second place in Australia two weeks ago, having failed to put up much of a fight to early title rival Leclerc.
But Imola saw Red Bull enjoy the measure over Ferrari overall, allowing the team to cut the gap down to 11 points at the top of the constructors’ championship. Verstappen also reduced Leclerc’s drivers’ championship lead down to 27 points.
“It’s a long, long season, and I think we’ll take a lot of confidence out of this weekend,” Horner said.
“The championship, obviously it was important for us to take some points off Ferrari, which we’ve done in both championship tables. We’ll take that out of this weekend, and then try and build on it in Miami, an all-new circuit in a couple of weeks’ time.”
Leclerc’s spin came as he hunted down Perez in the final stint to try and recover second place after slipping back from the front row at the start of the race.
Horner said the chicane was a part of the track where Leclerc was “consistently quicker than Checo”, but that the Ferrari driver “got a little bit too greedy on the soft tyre”.
“Mistakes can happen, and he was actually lucky to finish the race and obviously still get sixth place,” Horner said.
“It was a bonus for us that, obviously we were able to take a few more points off than with him not finishing on the podium.”
Charles Leclerc lost the chance in scoring a podium following a mistake in trying to catch Sergio Perez. The Ferrari driver admitted that he “paid the price for being too greedy” with Imola spin. Motorsport.com has the full details.
Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc says he “paid the price” for being “too greedy” after letting an Imola podium slip away with a late spin.
Leclerc was on course for a comfortable third place behind the dominant Red Bulls of winner Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez and was just looking to salvage a result on Ferrari home soil after teammate Carlos Sainz was taken out on the first lap.
But on lap 53 of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Leclerc spun off at the Variante Alta chicane, damaging his front wing after contact with the outside wall.
An additional pitstop for a new front wing demoted Leclerc from third to ninth, although on fresh soft tyres the championship leader managed to climb back up to a sixth-place finish.
Afterwards Leclerc rued his costly mistake, saying he “paid the price” for being “too greedy.”
“It is a big shame,” he told Sky TV. “Whatever happened before the spin, these are details and it’s part of racing, but I believe that the spin shouldn’t have happened today.
“P3 was the best I could do; we didn’t have the pace for much more. And I was too greedy, and I paid the price for it and lost seven potential points, compared to my third place I was before, so it is a shame.
“It’s seven points that are valuable at the end of the championship for sure. And this shouldn’t happen again.”
While Leclerc still leads the championship by 27 points over Verstappen, he is aware that the dropped points could prove very costly in light of Red Bull’s impressive form, which appears to have made a step forward thanks to a lighter, upgraded RB18.
“We’ve had the upper hand in Bahrain and in Australia and they’ve had the upper hand this weekend and in Jeddah. So yeah, it is very, very close. And I think it will be that way for the rest of the season,” he explained.
“And that is why every small mistake… I mean, it’s a big mistake, but actually the consequence considering the mistake could have been much bigger. It’s only seven points today but it would cost more the next time, so I need to be careful for that.
“Only time will tell how much of a step [Red Bull] did. But for sure they seem to be more competitive than the first three races or similar to Jeddah.”
Following Red Bull’s 1-2 win and Ferrari’s disastrous race, the Scuderia’s constructors’ championship lead has shrunk to just 11 points as F1 heads to Miami in two weeks.
This was a disappointing race for Lewis Hamilton. Finishing in P13 and a lap down on the race leader. The seven-time champion said that everyone at Mercedes is “feeling it” over Formula 1 struggles. Motorsport.com provides the story.
Lewis Hamilton says everyone in Mercedes is feeling the strain of its difficult start to the 2022 Formula 1 season, but he says no one is giving up just yet.
The seven-time world champion endured a hugely frustrating Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as he was left a “sitting duck” when he got trapped in a DRS train and ended up a lowly 13th.
After the race, team boss Toto Wolff apologised to Hamilton over team radio for being given an “undriveable” car.
Hamilton’s title chances now look incredibly slim and, after being lapped by race winner Max Verstappen at one point, Mercedes even faces an uphill challenge to get itself back in the hunt for wins.
Asked about his level of frustration when he has been so used to battling for victories in the turbo hybrid era, Hamilton said: “It’s been difficult and it’s definitely not easy, but we all feel it as a team.
“And at least George [Russell] got some points today for the team. So apologies to everyone that I wasn’t able to do so.”
Mercedes maintains faith that it can get on top of the porpoising problems that are holding it back, and says everyone is pushing hard to get to the bottom of what is going wrong.
“I think the team is… as I said, everyone is feeling it and everyone is head down, trying their best,” he said.
“So there’s no one that’s giving up and everyone is just trying to move forward as fast as they can.”
Hamilton said he was pushing as hard as he could to try to make progress up the order, but was powerless to find a way past the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly who was ahead of him for much of the afternoon.
“I really found it frustrating and I just wanted to move forwards,” he said. “I just wasn’t close enough to overtake. I was just a bit of a sitting duck today.”
While Mercedes works on car developments that it hopes can help it overcome its issues, Hamilton said that he was not expecting any dramatic change of fortunes before the next race in Miami.
Asked if he was looking forward to the new track, he said: “I can’t say that I’m particularly looking forward to it at the moment, but I’m sure during the week I’ll get to a positive frame of mind.
“I’ll be at the factory tomorrow to work with the guys to see what we can improve.”