Max Verstappen has held off a stunning late charge from Lando Norris to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
Verstappen, having started on pole alongside the McLaren of Norris, surged clear to lead by a hefty margin midway through the race, showing significantly better pace on medium tyres than his rivals.
But Norris, having been under pressure from Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, lit the fuse on a thrilling finish once the hard tyres were bolted on, sending down a scorching final 15 laps to hunt down Verstappen and threaten to repeat his maiden race victory last time out at Miami.
At times in the final 10 laps, he was lapping a second faster than Verstappen – and he managed to finally get within DRS range (within a second of the car in front) by the final lap.
But Verstappen coolly held off the surging Brit to claim his 59th grand prix victory.
“F**k, I had to work for that! Phew,” Verstappen said on team radio after the race. “I had to work hard for that!”
In a TV interview after the race, he said: “I had no grip anymore, I was really sliding a lot. The last ten laps was just flat out … I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes, luckily we didn’t.”
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“Unlucky, almost,” Norris said. “We just lost too much in the beginning,” he added.
“One or two more laps is all I needed.”
Charles Leclerc finished third in his Ferrari – the first Ferrari driver to claim a podium at Imola since Michael Schumacher won in 2006.
Australia’s Oscar Piastri – who started fifth after a three-place grid penalty from qualifying – managed to get past the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz to claim a strong fourth.
Daniel Ricciardo started in ninth but had a difficult start and dropped two places on the first lap. He battled hard in a tight midfield contest but finished 13th, out of the points places.
RACE UPDATES
Daniel Ricciardo had a difficult start to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, losing two places in the opening corners to drop to 11th – one position out of the points.
He was overtaken by the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg and the Red Bull of Sergio Perez in a poor first lap, before pitting on lap 12 – the first of the midfield pack to head to the pits.
The entire grid got off and racing cleanly, with Max Verstappen leading Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri showed good pace but was held up by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, the Ferrari duo who started in third and fourth.
That saw McLaren attempt an undercut, with Piastri pitting shortly after his teammate Norris.
It paid off: Norris soon got past the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who had not yet pitted after starting from a lowly 11th on the harder tyre – unlike every driver in front on the mediums. Perez had earlier also gone off track, saying on team radio: “Ah f**k I went off”.
Piastri himself very quickly got past Lance Stroll, and got past Perez shortly afterwards to sit just behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in what was effectively a battle for third place.
Behind them, Carlos Sainz used his fresh set of hard tyres to overtake Perez and claim fifth place – meaning the top five had all pitted and weren’t expected to pit again.
Perez continued to slide as the Mercedes of George Russell also used fresh tyres to overtake him into sixth, before Lewis Hamilton also got past before Perez pitted on lap 38.
Perez emerged in 11th, one place behind Daniel Ricciardo – but immediately used his fresh medium tyres to overtake the Australian into the final points position. Ricciardo would fall to 12th as Lance Stroll also got past him, before eventually falling to 13th in the final laps as Kevin Magnussen used fresh tyres to get past him.
Perez then zipped past Nico Hulkenberg with ease and hunted down Yuki Tsunoda, who had been enjoying one of his strongest race weekends – but could do nothing to stop Perez from claiming eighth.
Max Verstappen was miles clear in the lead, but Lando Norris in second was being hunted down by Charles Leclerc – only for the McLaren star to push back out of DRS range (which is enabled when the chasing car is less than a second behind).
Norris began to take time out of Verstappen’s hefty advantage, as the Dutchman fumed: “My tyres don’t work mate.”
With less than ten laps remaining, Norris was cutting the advantage to the leader by almost a second each lap. Verstappen was now complaining with his car turning into corners, and also ranted after being briefly held up by lapped Yuki Tsunoda in tenth, saying: “Can he let me by even more stupid?”
With seven laps to go, the lead dropped under two seconds, only for Verstappen to improve his pace. Norris was driving to the limit, but couldn’t get into DRS range until the final line.
Earlier in the race, there was drama further down the order as Alex Albon emerged from the pits on hard tyres but immediately appeared to be struggling.
“I’ve got a problem. The tyre’s not on properly,” he said on team radio – though limped back around the course and made it back to the pits before continuing. That was deemed unsafe by stewards and he was handed a 10-second stop-go penalty. He pitted multiple more times before retiring his Williams.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso’s nightmare weekend threatened to get even worse when his left front brake overheated and spurted flames after an early pit stop.
Lewis Hamilton was another to come to grief in the opening stages, locking up and running into the gravel around the mid-point of the race and sending him dashing to the pits for fresh tyres.
‘Fun while it lasted’: Late blow for Piastri as stars flop, Ricciardo shines in F1 quali
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