MAX VERSTAPPEN proved that nothing keeps a great champion down for long after beating the odds to win his second race of the season at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Red Bull star, chasing five-straight world titles, won his first race as a new dad, to close the gap on championship leader Oscar Piastri to 22 points.
APMax Verstappen has won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix[/caption]
GettyOscar Piastri battled team-mate Lando Norris[/caption]
Verstappen, who earned his luck through safety cars, showed he’s in a league of his own and the best wheel-to-wheel driver in the world after beating the technically faster McLaren vehicles by six seconds in Imola.
Lando Norris pipped Piastri to second after almost crashing into his team-mate with five laps to go, while a devastated George Russell dropped to seventh from P3.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton made an incredible recovery from starting P12 to record his best-ever finish in a Ferrari in fourth, with team-mate Charles Leclerc, who could be facing a time-penalty, just behind him.
Hamilton said he “needed a miracle” to get any points in front of the passionate Tifosi, after the Brit and Leclerc recorded the team’s worst-ever qualifying finish in Imola.
A dramatic start saw world champion Verstappen get his elbows out to brilliantly steal the lead from pole-sitter Piastri by going around the outside.
Within seconds, Mercedes’ Russell could be heard on radio shouting from P3: “Piastri what are you doing?” after the Aussie naively moved inside to allow a late-braking Verstappen tons of space out wide.
DRS enabled the Dutchman, who knew he needed to create a big gap on the superior McLaren cars, to open up a 1.6s lead on Piastri and Russell.
Soon title-chaser Norris edged past Russell at the first chicane in Lap 11, and went second after Piastri seemingly ditched ‘Plan A’ to pit early on Lap 14, which the Silver Arrows driver matched.
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APVerstappen celebrates his victory[/caption]
Hamilton was jumped by Mercedes replacement Kimi Antontelli at the start, while his team-mate Charles Leclerc moved up from 11th to ninth before pitting first.
Yuki Tsunoda, who started from the pits after a horror near-death crash in qualifying, went 10th by Lap 17 and couldn’t hold off his team-mate’s rival Piastri, who soon climbed the field.
With nearly half the race gone, Verstappen still hadn’t pitted in the apparent two-stop strategy, as the Dutchman clearly tried to open as big a gap on Norris as possible.
Savvy Verstappen knew a flawless pit would keep him high enough to hold his lead.
And, soon, things got even BETTER for him.
A virtual safety car on Lap 29 after Estebon Ocon spun off track, provided the perfect chance for the Dutchman to stop and open up a 20-SECOND lead on Norris.
But while the Red Bull ace was incredibly lucky, the opposite was true for Norris, who had pitted a lap before the opportune safety car.
With Verstappen still leading, McLaren were smart enough to pit Piastri on Lap 31, with poor Russell down in 12th after starting third.
Hamilton soon pipped past Antonelli and Hadjar by Lap 36 – to the sheer delight of the screaming Tifosi fans in the grandstands.
And soon Verstappen was back in Lady Luck’s good books AGAIN.
The Dutchman was handed another pit stop on a plate after Italian home favourite Antontelli’s race ended after peeling off track on Turn 7 of Lap 45.
Norris and Hamilton also grabbed the chance to replace their tyres, but a fuming Leclerc was told to “stay out”.
After 10 safety car laps, a great restart from Vestappen saw him cruise to victory.
Williams star Carlos Sainz was less than a second further back from Russell in eighth.
Isack Hadjar finished ninth while Tsunoda claimed a point in 10th.
At the chequered flag, Verstappen said: “Brilliant weekend. Fantastic execution all-around.
“Thank you very much and on our 400th race!”
APLewis Hamilton made up eight places to finish P4[/caption] Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
