Verstappen Dominates at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Max Verstappen kept himself in the drives championship fight this weekend after winning the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after starting the race from P2. However, that P2 start was very short lived after Verstappen made a very early move through the first few corners on lap 1 to make a hairpin pass on Oscar Piastri. Verstappen held the effective lead the entire race after the cars made their first pit stops. He also caught a bit of luck for the second pit window when a safety car was deployed he was able to make a free stop for new tires that would see him to the end without needed to relinquish track position.

Verstappen Comments on the Win

At the restart Verstappen had already built up a 1.2second lead by the first lap after the safety car came in to resume the race. He would keep the lead to the end. “To have the win here is fantastic, said Verstappen. “The start wasn’t the best but I can say turn two was good! Once we got into the lead I think we showed what we could do with the pace of the car and I could push quite nicely. The race was a lot more promising than what I expected, which was really good for us, and the car felt a lot more stable. We have clearly made a step forward with the set up of the car. I looked after my tyres quite well and it felt really good on both of the compounds. It took a while for the car to be cleared during the VSC but we were able to pit which was good.

It was a bit of a reset and I could also pull away as Oscar had used tyres. I am really happy with this result and from the Team’s side we did everything well: good strategy, good pit stops and really calm communication everywhere, which is what you need in a successful race. It was a big weekend for us and good to see that the upgrades worked on the car. Big thank you to everyone here and at the factory for this, this makes our 400th race even more special. Hopefully we can extract what we learnt here today a bit more often. It has been a really positive weekend for us and we will keep on going, keep trying to be better and of course enjoy it a bit tonight!”

McLaren Increases Their Championship Lead

Despite not winning the race, McLaren walked away from the weekend as winners in terms of points. McLaren currently holds a commanding lead on the constructors and Red Bull is out of the discussion for the time being. McLaren is in a world of their own with a 132 pint lead ahead of Mercedes in the championship. Ferrari kept their top 4 contention in sight with two top 10 finishes this weekend.

Of Note Kimi Antonelli suffered from a mechanical issue which prevented Mercedes from achieving a double points finish.

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Results