(Formula 1) Max Verstappen has surged to an impressive second victory of the season at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the Dutchman having snatched P1 at the start before holding his position ahead of the McLaren pair in an eventful afternoon that featured Virtual Safety Car and full Safety Car phases.
The race got underway in exciting fashion as polesitter Oscar Piastri initially launched well off the line – only for Verstappen to make a stunning overtake through the Tamburello chicane, resulting in the World Champion going on to build a lead in the laps that followed.

Piastri then joined a number of drivers who made an early pit stop, having stopped for the hard compound on Lap 14, but the call did not seem to work out for the Australian, with Verstappen staying out on track to further extend his advantage in first place.
As questions persisted over whether a one-stop or two-stop strategy was the way forward – with around half of the field remaining out following that earlier flurry of

action in the pits for the other half – the picture was turned on its head when a Virtual Safety Car was called on Lap 29 after Esteban Ocon pulled onto the grass in the Haas.

This allowed for those who had yet to stop to visit the pits without losing much time – and this most crucially included Verstappen, who pitted before emerging back on track with a staggering lead of around 20s from Norris in P2.
But there was more drama to come later on when a Safety Car was deployed owing to Kimi Antonelli pulling off track on Lap 46 due to an issue with his Mercedes, allowing Verstappen to stop again – as did Norris, while the other McLaren of Piastri did not, raising questions over whether the papaya team would opt to let the Briton move ahead of his team mate upon the restart.

The restart was executed flawlessly by Verstappen, who went on to clinch a fourth consecutive win at Imola in Red Bull’s 400th Grand Prix start – while, six seconds behind him, Norris had overtaken Piastri for P2, with the Australian then doing enough to hold off Lewis Hamilton behind him in fourth following a solid recovery drive for Ferrari after their Qualifying woes.

Alex Albon continued a good run for Williams by taking P5, having won out in a feisty late-race battle with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc that left the Monegasque in P6. George Russell, meanwhile, took P7 as the sole Mercedes finisher following Antonelli’s retirement, while Carlos Sainz added to William’s tally in P8.
Isack Hadjar was ninth for Racing Bulls in another notable performance from the rookie, with Yuki Tsunoda climbing his way up to 10th to claim the final point on offer, perhaps bringing some solace to the Red Bull driver after his dramatic crash in Saturday’s Qualifying.

Fernando Alonso again missed out on points in P11 on a day where Aston Martin looked to be slipping backwards, with Nico Hulkenberg also losing out on a potential top-10 finish in P12. Pierre Gasly followed in P13 for Alpine, ahead of Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Franco Colapinto crossed the line in 16th on his first race at the wheel of the Alpine, while Ollie Bearman in the Haas and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the classified runners in 17th and 18th respectively, with Ocon and Antonelli the two retirees at Imola.