F1: Verstappen Wins In Imola As Hamilton Struggles To P2

Max Verstappen took a commanding victory over Lewis Hamilton in the Emilia Romagna GP after he overtook the Briton at the start from P3. Hamilton sustained some damage on the front wing in the opening duel and then went off in the gravel trap in the 33rd lap as he dropped to P9 only to come back to P2 because of an awesome recovery drive. He also took the fastest lap of the race.

In the 34th lap, George Russell and Valtteri Bottas came together which resulted in a red flag that trigged a rolling restart where Lando Norris in the McLaren overtook Ferrari's Charles Leclerc thanks to his faster soft tyres. Hamilton eventually overtook both to take P2 but the McLaren driver was the driver of the day with a sublime P3 followed by the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in P4 and P5 rounding off a great home race for the prancing horse.

Lando Norris was voted the driver of the day for his fantastic P3

Daniel Ricciardo in the second McLaren brought home the car in P6 while Lance Stroll again showed off his wet weather skills getting the Aston Martin home in P7. His 4-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel had a torrid race rounded off by a last-minute retirement thanks to a gearbox issue.

Pierre Gasly got the AlphaTauri in P8 while Kimi Raikkonen in the Alfa Romeo came home in P9 though he will be investigated after the race. Esteban Ocon was the fastest Alpine in P10 ahead of his 2-time world champion team-mate Fernando Alonso who came P11.

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— Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) April 18, 2021

Sergio Perez had a torrid race managing just P12 in the second Red Bull with him getting a stop and go penalty for overtaking during the safety car and also spinning multiple times during the race. Yuki Tsunoda came P14 in an eventful race where he gained many spots but lost them eventually. Antonio Giovinazzi came P14 in the Alfa Romeo. Vettel was classified as P15 even though the car was retired on the last lap of the race. The Haas pair of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin came P16 and P17.

At the beginning of the race, the start was eventful because of the rain which resulted in some exciting racing. Nicholas Latifi in the Williams was the first car to go off and retire followed by a massive accident between Valtteri Bottas and George Russell which triggered a red flag that added excitement to the race.

Result

1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:17.526
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +22.000s
3 Lando Norris McLaren +23.702s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +25.579s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +27.036s
6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +51.220s
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +51.909s
8 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +52.818s
9 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing +64.773s
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine +65.704s
11 Fernando Alonso Alpine +66.561s
12 Sergio Perez Red Bull +67.151s
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +73.184s
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing +1 Lap
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1 Lap
16 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 Lap
17 Nikita Mazepin Haas +2 Laps

Did Not Finish

Valtteri Bottas Mercedes crash
George Russell Williams crash
Nicholas Latifi Williams crash