Norris missed out on victory by simply 0.725 secs; Leclerc accomplished the rostrum.
Max Verstappen fended off a shock late cost from Lando Norris to win the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola for the third consecutive time. Regardless of complaining about tyre put on and battery points within the closing laps, Verstappen crossed the road 0.725 secs forward of his McLaren rival.
Charles Leclerc completed third at hand Ferrari a podium end in entrance of the workforce’s house crowd.
Verstappen leads championship by 33 factors from PerezPerez solely in a position to salvage P8 end
F1 Imola GP: Verstappen vs Norris
Purple Bull struggled with tempo on Friday, however after some last-minute setup modifications, Verstappen bagged pole at Imola. He efficiently held on to the lead after a clear begin and began pulling away whereas Norris was defending from the Ferraris.
Nonetheless, contemporary off his maiden F1 win on the Miami GP, Norris began closing the hole to the Verstappen within the closing levels. The Purple Bull driver misplaced some extra time after being held up whereas lapping Yuki Tsunoda within the sister RB automotive. Simply laps later, Verstappen got here on the radio saying, “battery is sort of empty”. Regardless of this, he held on, with Norris unable to get shut sufficient to make a transfer. The McLaren driver missed out on victory by simply 0.725 secs.
“I believe the entire race I needed to push flat out to attempt to make a spot initially,” Verstappen mentioned after the race. “I believe on the medium tyres we had been fairly sturdy, on the hards tyres it was only a bit tougher to handle, particularly within the final 10,15 laps. I had no grip anymore, I used to be actually sliding rather a lot.”
“I noticed Lando closing in, so the final 10 laps I used to be simply flat out. It’s very troublesome when the tyres should not working anymore and you need to go flat-out. I could not afford to make too many errors. Fortunately we didn’t, and tremendous pleased after all to win right here right now.”
F1 Imola GP: Podium for Ferrari
At one level, Leclerc was locked in battle with Norris. Nonetheless, the Ferrari driver finally needed to accept third place, forward of Oscar Piastri within the second McLaren automotive.
Carlos Sainz additionally secured a handful of factors for Ferrari, ending P5, adopted by the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in P6 and P7, respectively. Russel’s late pit cease for medium tyres additionally helped him set the quickest lap of the race, handing him an additional level.
With Sergio Perez beginning down in eleventh place after a troublesome qualifying, Purple Bull opted to have him begin the race on onerous tyres. He did achieve just a few locations after a late cease for mediums, however might solely salvage a P8 end.
Lance Stroll completed ninth, scoring Aston Martin’s solely factors as Fernando Alonso retired his automotive after a troublesome weekend. Tsunoda scored the ultimate level, rounding out the highest 10.
2024 F1 championship standings
Again to his successful methods, Verstappen now holds a 33-point lead within the championship. Perez is second general, simply 5 factors forward of Leclerc.
Subsequent up on the F1 calendar is the Monaco GP on Might 24-26.
2024 F1 Imola GP outcomes
Additionally see:
Miami GP: Norris beats Verstappen to attain first F1 win
Purple Bull confirms Adrian Newey exit