Emilia Romagna GP - Race: Max Verstappen wins at Imola!
Max Verstappen makes it 11, winning in a very dramatic race at Imola, followed by Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris. A masterclass by Max Verstappen and a superb drive by Lando Norris, who was voted as the Driver Of The Day, and managed to clench the second podium of his F1 career. An excellent recovery from Lewis Hamilton as well, who managed to recover from P8 to P2 and get the extra Fastest Lap point, retaining his P1 in the Drivers' Championship. This is the first time two British drivers have been in the podium since the 2012 Chinese GP (Jenson Button - Lewis Hamilton).
On to the non-podium finishers, we have the two Ferrari drivers, Charles Leclerc in P4 and Carlos Sainz in P5, a big haul of points for the Italian team. Daniel Ricciardo in P6, followed by Lance Stroll in P7. Completing the Top 10, Pierre Gasly in P8, Kimi Raikkonen in P9 and Esteban Ocon in P10, getting his (and his team's) first point of the season.
Race Report:
Pre Race: Rain hit the track as the drivers were about to get out of the pit lane, forcing them to start on intermediate tyres, except for Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, who started on full-wets, expecting a wet race start, although some parts of the track were still dry at the time.
A lot of drama even before the start of the Emilia Romagna GP, as Fernando Alonso gone off at Tonsa on his way to the grid, breaking his front wing, Valtteri Bottas had a left-rear puncture on the way to the grid and Lance Stroll's rear-right brake caught fire.
Sebastian Vettel started from the pitlane, as his car wasn't ready in time for the formation lap.
Formation Lap: Charles Leclerc spun at Acque Minerali, but managed to escape the gravel.
Lap 2: Nicholas Latifi spun off just before the Variante Alta, after contact with Nikita Mazepin, bringing the Safety Car out, and retiring the car.
Lap 4: Mick Scumacher went into the wall right at the exit of the pitlane, while trying to heat up his tyres, losing his front wing, and extending the Safety Car for two more laps.
Lap 23: Sebastian Vettel received a 10 second stop-go penalty, as the tyres weren't fitted on the car 5 minutes before the race start.
Lap 33: Lewis Hamilton lost the brakes, trying to lap George Russell, destroying his front wing, and dropping down to P8. On the same lap, big impact between Valtteri Bottas and George Russell, bringing a red flag out.
Grid Positions for the Restart: 1. Verstappen 2. Leclerc 3. Norris 4. Perez 5. Sainz 6. Ricciardo 7. Stroll 8. Hamilton 9. Tsunoda 10. Raikkonen 11. Giovinazzi 12. Alonso 13. Gasly 14. Ocon 15. Vettel 16. Schumacher 17. Mazepin.
Race Restart (Lap 35): On a rolling restart, Yuki Tsunoda spun into the gravel, but got it going again, dropping to P15. Lando Norris overtook Charles Leclerc, making it up to P2.
Lap 38: Sergio Perez went off at Villeneuve, dropping all the way to P14.
Lap 56: Yuki Tsunoda got a 5-second time penalty, as he exceeded ttrack limits at turn 9 more than 3 times.
Lap 60: Lewis Hamilton overtook Lando Norris making it up to P2, making the fastest lap time of the race as well.
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Full Race Classification:
