Max Verstappen wins in Imola as Charles Leclerc crashes to drop points
Max Verstappen takes the victory at the Emilia Romagna GP
Max Verstappen takes the victory at the Emilia Romagna GP

MAX Verstappen reignited his title bid with a dominant victory at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as a late crash for Charles Leclerc in Imola saw the Ferrari driver’s world championship lead reduced.

Verstappen produced a faultless display from pole position on a drying track to complete a much-needed perfect weekend after winning the Sprint, and led a Red Bull one-two from team-mate Sergio Perez

Leclerc, who dropped from second to fourth at the start, hit a barrier as he attempted to chase Perez with 10 laps remaining, eventually finishing sixth after being forced to pit for a new front wing.

Leclerc’s error enabled Lando Norris to score a surprise podium for McLaren, with the incident capping a hugely disappointing home race for Ferrari, who saw Carlos Sainz retire on the first lap after a collision with Norris’ team-mate Daniel Ricciardo

George Russell drove an excellent race to finish fourth after starting 11th, but his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton endured a torrid afternoon, making up only one position as he finished outside the points in 13th.

Valtteri Bottas produced another strong drive to claim fifth for Alfa Romeo, Yuki Tsunoda was seventh for AlphaTauri, while Kevin Magnussen was ninth, between the Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel in eighth and Lance Stroll in 10th.

The victory sees Verstappen, who took a maximum 34 points from the weekend after winning Saturday’s Sprint and claiming the extra point for the fastest lap on Sunday, climb to second in the world championship standings.

“Yesterday and the day before, we were on it and it was looking like a strong weekend,” Verstappen, who had two DNFs in the opening three races, said.

“Today, you never know with the weather how competitive you’re going to be… as a team we did everything well and I think this one-two is well deserved.”

Leclerc, who finished second to Verstappen in Saturday’s Sprint, is now 27 points clear of the Dutchman, who has reinvigorated his hopes of adding to his maiden world championship last season.

Downpour proves foreboding for Ferrari
Ferrari’s passionate fans arrived on a bright morning in Imola hoping Leclerc could add to his two victories in the opening three races of the season, but the downpour that preceded the start of the race turned out to be foreboding.

With the entire grid starting on intermediate tyres, Leclerc was overtaken by Perez and Norris off the line. Sainz, who started fourth after a strong recovery drive in the Sprint having crashed out of qualifying on Friday, collided with Ricciardo at Turn 2 and was left beached in the gravel as a Safety Car was deploye

It was a second successive retirement for the Spaniard and marked the end of a disappointing weekend which had begun with the team announcing a two-year contract extension for him.
Leclerc was able to pass Norris with relative ease to climb to third and momentarily got in front of Perez as Ricciardo triggered the entire field to switch to slicks after coming in on lap 18.

Perez pitted a lap earlier than Leclerc and Verstappen, which saw the Ferrari emerge ahead of him, but with his tyres up to speed the Red Bull was able to immediately regain P2
Struggling to close on Perez, Leclerc opted for another late pit stop, which appeared geared towards trying to claim the fastest lap of the race rather than catching Perez, but when Red Bull matched the strategy the Ferrari suddenly found himself in DRS range.

Pushing to pressure the Mexican, Leclerc got over-aggressive at Variante Alta and lost control to hit the barrier, and was ultimately fortunate to be able to continue after stopping for a new front wing.

Leclerc emerged in ninth, but passed Magnussen, Vettel and Tsunoda to limit the damage and finish sixth.

“It is a big shame,” Leclerc said. “I believe that the spin shouldn’t have happened today.

“P3 was the best I could, 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.”

Meanwhile, Verstappen, who has now won both the races he has finished this season after being forced to retire in Bahrain and Australia because of reliability issues, eased to victory as he navigated the challenging conditions with relative ease.(Sky Sports)

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