Max Verstappen wins the imola grand prix
Before a wheel turned in the Grand Prix, Alex Albon’s car had a leak prior to the formation lap. Thankfully, the Williams crew was quick and was able to jump onto the issue before it ruined their race.
George Russell also had an issue on the grid: his transponder at the rear of the car stopped working again. They replaced it, but issues continued to plague the rear of the car.
With all of the Top 10 on medium tyres and Red Bull’s 400th Grand Prix, it was all to play for. Piastri got a good start leading into Turn 1, but Verstappen showed why he was a 4 x World Champion and blazed around the outside of Turn 2 to take the lead of the Grand Prix.
Pierre Gasly in the Alpine took a trip through the gravel trap after almost tangling with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. He went from 9th to 14th in a matter of seconds.
Things weren’t any easier in the other Alpine, Franco Colapinto, in his first race back since 2024, also took a quick trip through the gravel trap but skated out the other side.
Up front the battle was on between George Russell and Lando Norris for 3rd place on Lap 10 as Lando put two wheels on the grass in an effort to get around him and chase after his teammate. Lando pulled off the move a lap later. As George had held up the back, P3 to P11 was effectively stuck in a DRS Train.
It was at this point that the front runners were starting to realise a previously assumed one-stop race was going to become harder than first thought. The sun was blazing on the track and the tyres were graining not lasting the full journey previously calculated & anticipated.
Verstappen in P1, Norris in P3 and Albon in P4 stay out whilst all other runners start to pit. Piastri the first of the front runners to pit had to work his way through the pack, which is not easy at the tight & technical Imola circuit.
Piastri passed the likes of Tsunoda, Colapinto, Bearman, Hamilton, Antonelli and Hadjar on his way back up to P4 by L28. George Russell started to notice the rear of the car was getting worse and the Brit had to hang on & his race would be compromised.
On Lap 29, Esteban Ocon in the Haas caused the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) and this gave the likes of Verstappen, Norris and Albon free pitstops as they could do a 10 second quicker pitstop under these conditions rather than pitting under the Green Flag. The effective order under the VSC by Lap 30 was Verstappen, Piastri, Norris, Albon and Hadjar.
By Lap 36, the Tifosi had something to cheer about as Lewis Hamilton was charging through the field up from 12th into 6th place, he soared past Hadjar and was then up into P5.
Team orders came into effect at Alpine as the drivers were asked swap places so Gasly could be ahead of Colapinto for P15. At this point they were battling for sheep stations.
But the race had one last surprise, unfortunately for the home hero Kimi Antonelli, he was out as his car came to a stop on Lap 46 bring out the full safety car. The Safety car would give the opportunity for the front runners to have another free pitstop to ensure they had fresh tyres for a sprint to the end of the race.
From the Top 10, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell and Sainz were the only runners on the old tyres. On Lap 53, the safety car peels in and we have a 10 lap dash to the flag. Effective order is: Verstappen, Piastri, Norris, Leclerc and Albon.
But with fresher tyres Norris wanted to get past his Aussie teammate and put the hammer down to chase after Verstappen. But Verstappen was too strong and set off into the distance.
Behind him, though, Hamilton overtakes Russell for P6, Tifosi roar to life again. Norris got past Piastri for 2nd place around the outside of Turn 2 in a move that would have had McLaren race wall nervous as they came close to banging wheels.
On Lap 60, Albon was forced wide by Leclerc and Albon took a tour through the gravel. Hamilton takes the opportunity and gets up into 5th. Albon 6th. A lap later, Hamilton gets past his teammate up into P4 with Leclerc making things much easier. With a lap to go, as the FIA had the Albon/Leclerc incident after review, Ferrari told Leclerc to swap with Albon for the benefit of not getting a penalty, Albon claimed P5 but Leclerc was furious.
In the end, Max Verstappen was far too strong and superior and went on to win his 65th Grand Prix, Lando Norris in 2nd and Oscar Piastri in 3rd.
Your Top 10:
Verstappen - Red Bull
Norris - McLaren
Piastri - McLaren
Hamilton - Ferrari
Albon - Williams
Leclerc - Ferrari
Russell - Mercedes
Sainz - Williams
Hadjar - Racing Bulls
Tsunoda - Red Bull
Top 5 in Championship:
Piastri - McLaren (146 Points)
Norris - McLaren (133 Points - 13 behind)
Verstappen - Red Bull (124 Points - 9 behind)
Russell - Mercedes (99 Points - 25 behind)
Leclerc - Ferrari (61 points - 38 behind)
