Max Verstappen's dominant victory at Imola sharpens the intrigue in the overall standings!
The weather forecasters were right: the Formula 1 race at Imola actually turned out to be a rainy race, which should have made it even more interesting. However, in the struggle for the win, the difficult conditions had little effect.
Disaster for Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso, George Russell's breakthrough
Drivers with a variety of tyre strategies did not shine. By the start of the race, the rain stopped and the track had time to dry - in such a situation, the intermediate tyres was the only correct choice.
In the final race of the weekend, it was the turn of the Ferrari’s where both Leclerc and Sainz experienced difficulties. Charles got off with the loss of two places, but with Carlos had a disaster at Tamburello clashing with Daniel Ricciardo. It's hard to blame someone, accidents happen. One way or another, the Ferrari got stuck in the gravel and Riccardo went on last.
Another incident happened between Mick Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. The German tried to fight aggressively with the Alpine at the exit of the chicane, but after a light contact, he lost control over the car and before flying out, hit Alonso’s car. A little later, the two-time champion had to retire from the race.
As well as Lando Norris, George Russell was the main hero of the start, moving up from 11th to 6th position. After Sainz’s car was moved from the track and the safety car came in, Leclerc quickly took the lead overtaking Norris.
Leclerc overtakes Sergio Perez, but...
Relieved of the McLaren, Leclerc had almost the entire race ahead of him to chase the Red Bull. But then it was time for pit stops, the intermediate tires were wearing out and the track was drying up. There was an experiment: racing at the back of the pack, Ricciardo had nothing to lose leading the Australian to switch to slicks. The McLaren immediately went faster and everyone rushed to the pit lane.
Leclerc made a pit stop a lap later than Perez, though he seemed to be ahead, sadly it didn’t hold. Like in Formula 2 races, the cold tyres were still yet to grip and sadly couldn’t keep Perez behind him. So, the Ferrari driver was once again behind two Red Bulls.
Norris drove in fourth, Russell showed himself as the clear leader of Mercedes, while Lewis Hamilton was floundering. Albeit the second attempt, Hamilton still passed Kevin Magnussen. Before switching to the slicks, Valtteri Bottas was able to pull away from Haas so much so, that even a failed pit stop did not prevent the Fin to stay ahead.
The top ten was closed by Yuki Tsunoda, who formed a real steam train behind him.
Charles Leclerc delight over Max Verstappen
A fight for the victory was virtually absent. On the dry track, Leclerc drove at best at the same pace as Perez and could not reduce the two-second gap, whilst Verstappen quietly led the race. In this situation, Ferrari decided to make an almost free pit stop where Charles rejoined the race behind Norris, but it was obvious that this was only temporary.
Red Bull decided not to give Leclerc the strategic initiative in case of a late safety car and also called their drivers in. On the warmed up tyres, Charles managed to get into the DRS zone behind Perez, but the speed to attack the starting line was not enough. As Monegasque gave up his attempt to get as close to the Verstappen, he aggressively attacked the curb and his Ferrari spun. Slight impact on the bump did not break the suspension, but had to limp back to the pit lane to replace the front wing.
After the error and an additional pit stop Leclerc came out in ninth, but almost immediately passed Magnussen. Next, Charles easily ate up six seconds to catch up to Sebastian Vettel and overtook the Aston Martin. Leclerc also managed to pass Tsunoda before the finish of the race into sixth place. So instead of originally 15 points for third place, Charles earned eight.
The Red Bull drivers, meanwhile, had a winning double podium with the additional point awarded for fastest lap to Verstappen as Norris made his way to the podium in 3rd after a mistake by Leclerc. Russell had great difficulty fending off Bottas' attacks in the dispute for fifth place - Valtteri was on fire once again! Leclerc, Tsunoda, Vettel, Magnussen and Stroll rounded out the top ten, with Stroll taking the lead from Tsunoda and keeping a solid group behind him.
Lewis Hamilton, despite numerous attempts to get ahead of Pierre Gasly, finished in 13th place – which against the finish of Russell in 4th was another unusual performance. While Hamilton is suffering, Verstappen has been able to catch up to Leclerc with the Dutchman now 27 points behind. The next Formula 1 race will be held at the new street circuit in Miami in two weeks.
Comments