Brilliant Verstappen cruises to Imola win
IMOLA, Italy: Defending four-time champion Max Verstappen delivered a reminder of his unmatched racing prowess on Sunday when he drove his Red Bull to a commanding victory at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The 27-year-old Dutchman came home 6.1 seconds clear of Lando Norris, who was second, ahead of McLaren team-mate and championship leader Oscar Piastri.
Like Verstappen, Ferrari's seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton profited from two safety car interventions to finish fourth, after starting 12th on the grid, ahead of Williams' Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc, in the second Ferrari. George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second Williams, RB rookie Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda, a notable 10th in the second Red Bull after his high-speed crash in qualifying.
It was Verstappen's second win this year and the 65th of his career, delivered in Red Bull's 400th Grand Prix. His success lifted him to 124 points in third place in the drivers' title race behind Piastri on 146 and Norris on 133. 'Thank you everyone for a great job today and on Saturday,' said Verstappen, whose performance made clear he and Red Bull will not relinquish the title easily. 'It was a great weekend.'
Piastri said he had lost the race at the opening corner. 'I braked too early,' he said. 'But it was a great move by Max and then we had a few wrong calls so it was not one of our best Sundays.' Norris conceded that Verstappen and Red Bull had been stronger and faster than his team. 'Congratulations to Max,' he said. 'We couldn't match him this weekend.'
The race, marking the 75th anniversary of the world championship's maiden race at Silverstone on May 13, 1950, started in glorious warm sunshine with everyone on medium tyres, except Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli and three others, including Tsunoda, who chose hards for strategic reasons. Piastri won the initial start, but left enough room for a rampant Verstappen to lunge past him at Tamburello and take the lead in a thrilling thrusting move that stirred a roar from the big sun-kissed crowd, part of an Imola record weekend attendance of 240,000.
Tsunoda, recovered from his huge crash on Saturday, started from the pitlane in his rebuilt Red Bull, clearly eyeing a one-stop strategy at a circuit with one of the longest pitlanes, 10 seconds slower than Miami. Home favorite Antonelli had passed his Mercedes predecessor Hamilton on lap one pushing the Ferrari down to 12th while Norris sliced past Russell for third on lap 11 to begin his pursuit of the leaders.
Russell pitted for hards one lap later together with Leclerc, doing the same at Ferrari, emerging in 13th, before Piastri came in on lap 13 and rejoined in front of the Monegasque, but facing a solid jam of cars ahead of him. In the lead, Verstappen enjoyed cruising at pace ahead of Norris, with a 10-second advantage by lap 20.
By lap 25, Piastri was past Hamilton and into the top six after a frustrating period held up by Tsunoda, on team orders. Two laps later, he passed Antonelli, 'the boy from Bologna', for fifth and then Hadjar for fourth before a brief virtual safety car was signalled when Esteban Ocon parked his Haas on the inside of Tosa.
The pause gifted Verstappen a cheap pit-stop. It was perfect for the leader, but left Leclerc fuming, swearing on the team radio. This left Verstappen leading Norris with Albon third ahead of Piastri. Fired up, Hamilton dispatched both Antonelli and then Hadjar with sweeping moves at Tamburello to take fifth but Verstappen remained in cool control, 18 seconds clear of Norris and Piastri.
On lap 46, Antonelli prompted a full safety car intervention when he pulled up at Tosa. 'I've got an issue,' he reported, as lucky Max cashed in again, the champion taking his second 'cheap' stop followed by Norris. Ferrari told Leclerc to stay out. 'No tyres left,' they said, as Hamilton took more hards for a fiery final nine-lap sprint to the flag from seventh in a reshuffled order.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
3 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Draper survives scare to reach Queen's q-finals
LONDON: British second seed Jack Draper survived a scare to reach the Queen's Club quarter-finals with a gritty 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) win over Australia's Alexei Popyrin on Wednesday. Draper was rocked by the world number 21 in the first set of the second-round tie at the Wimbledon warm-up event. But the 23-year-old hit back to level the match before taking the final set tie-break to complete his comeback in a tense encounter lasting two hours and 13 minutes in searing heat in west London. Earlier in his career, such a test of endurance would have been too much for Draper, but he believes he is made of sterner stuff these days. 'Before I felt like my energy wasn't that strong, and I felt like I looked like a bit of a Ferrari but I was a bit of a Toyota, like broke down quite easy,' Draper said. 'Now I'm starting to feel generally stronger and confident in myself. 'I have felt better and better every Grand Slam I have played.' Draper, who reached the US Open semi-finals last year, is hoping to make a strong run at Wimbledon this year after failing to get past the second round in his previous three appearance. The Londoner has made the last 16 at both the Australian and French Opens this year, rising to sixth in the ATP rankings. If Draper can reach the Queen's semi-finals for the first time after two previous last-eight exits, he will be guaranteed to be seeded fourth at Wimbledon when the grass-court Grand Slam gets underway on June 30. After losing the first set against Popyrin, Draper's powerful ground-stroke dragged him level with a double break in the second set. Popyrin clung on valiantly, saving two match points as he served at 4-5 in the final set. In the tie-break he led 4-2, pushing Draper to the brink of a shock defeat. But the Briton delighted the home crowd as he won five of the last six points, clinching the victory with an ace. Draper will play Brandon Nakashima in the quarter-finals after the American beat Britain's Dan Evans 7-5, 7-6 (7/4). On the day he was awarded a wild card entry into Wimbledon, the 35-year-old Evans was unable to emulate his surprise first-round win against Frances Tiafoe. In Wednesday's other matches, Danish fourth seed Holger Rune fought back to seal a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over American Mackenzie McDonald. Rune, who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2023, plays Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter-finals after the Spaniard beat Czech eighth seed Jakub Mensik 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. – AFP
Kuwait Times
6 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Antonelli comes of age with podium finish in Canada
Hamilton 'devastated' after hitting groundhog in Canada race MONTREAL: Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli raised the biggest and most emotional reaction on Sunday when he came of age as a Formula One star by finishing third with a mature race for Mercedes at the Canadian Grand Prix. The 18-year-old rookie, who passed his road driving test earlier this year before the season began, became the third-youngest podium finisher in Formula One history. Four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who was second for Red Bull in Sunday's race behind Mercedes team leader George Russell, was aged 18 years, seven months and 15 days old when he took his first podium in 2016. Lance Stroll was also slightly younger than Antonelli when he came third in Azerbaijan in 2017. 'It was so stressful for me,' he said. 'But I am super happy!' Beaming from ear to ear, Antonelli waved to the big crowd at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve amid chants of 'Kimi, Kimi' as they applauded his appearance on the podium after the race. 'I had a good start. I managed to jump into P3 and I just stayed up there at the front. The last stint, I pushed a bit too hard behind Max and I killed a bit of the front left tyre and then I struggled a bit at the end. 'So, I'm really happy to bring the podium home for the team.' He started the race in thrilling style by passing championship leader Oscar Piastri's McLaren for third place on the opening lap. 'I had a good first launch and managed to get alongside and then, in the first corner, I just tried to carry as much speed as possible. When I was alongside him in Turn Two, I knew I would have the advantage going into Turn Three.' He said he hoped his team's first win this year and since the Las Vegas race last year would be the springboard for more victories. But Russell was quick to play down too many expectations, pointing out that the Canada track was one that was very suitable to the strengths of their Mercedes car. 'It's a little bit cooler around here,' said Russell. 'We saw it last year in Canada. I would love to get our hopes up, but I think the strength of our car is in the cooler conditions so let's see in the coming races. 'But, yeah, we will enjoy this for now.' 'Time will tell. We won Austria last year so maybe that's a good omen. We did have high expectations coming into this weekend and it worked out as we thought.' His victory meant that he became the fourth different driver to win this year after 10 races that have seen Mercedes and Red Bull chasing to reel in champions McLaren's performance advantage. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton said he felt devastated after learning that he had hit and killed a groundhog, damaging his Ferrari car, on his way to finishing sixth in the Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton, who owns a French bulldog called Roscoe that is often seen with him at Grands Prix, said he did not see the groundhog and felt that the incident reduced the performance of his car after a bright start Sunday. 'It was feeling pretty decent up until then,' said the seven-time world champion. 'I got a good start, I held position and I was holding onto the leading group. 'I was managing the tyres well, so I was feeling optimistic. 'I didn't see it happen, but I heard I hit a groundhog. That's devastating because I love animals and I'm so sad about it. It's horrible. 'That's never happened to me before here, but the floor — basically the right-side — there was a hole in it. 'Given that, and we had a brake issue halfway through as well, and then we probably stayed out too long in the first stop and came out behind traffic... it went from one thing to another.' After going 10 races without a podium this season for the first time in his Formula One career, having joined Ferrari, Hamilton was expressing mounting frustration at the team's disappointing start to the year. 'I'm grateful that I finished, particularly with the brake issue I had. We are really in need of an upgrade, but there are a lot of things that need to change in order for us to compete at the front.' Team-mate Charles Leclerc finished fifth despite missing much of Friday practice after crashing in the opening session, but said he was frustrated by how his race had unfolded. — AFP
Arab Times
6 days ago
- Arab Times
Russell holds off Verstappen for Canadian Grand Prix win
MONTREAL, June 16, (AP): George Russell won his first race of the Formula 1 season as the Mercedes driver held off defending race winner Max Verstappen at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. It was the fourth victory of Russell's career, and the race ended under yellow when McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris staged a wheel-to-wheel late battle that ended with Norris hitting the wall. 'It's amazing to be back on the top step,' Russell said. 'I felt last year was a victory lost, so to get the victory and see (teammate) Kimi (Antonelli) on the podium, too, is an amazing day for the team. I think it shows the strength of our cars in the cooler conditions, so let's see in the coming races.' Russell started on pole for the second consecutive year in Montreal and held the advantage for most of the race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The British driver became the fourth race winner this year, joining points leader Piastri, Norris, and Verstappen, the four-time reigning F1 champion. Verstappen, who has one more race to go before points drop off his license and eliminate the possibility of a one-race suspension, was satisfied with his second-place finish. 'It was quite a good race, even though in the first two stints we were struggling with the tires,' the Dutchman said. 'We hung in there in the final stint. That was the maximum we could have achieved today.' Mercedes rookie Antonelli finished third behind Verstappen for his first F1 podium. 'A good day. It was a victory on merit,' Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said. 'We controlled the race all the way. George drove brilliantly, and Kimi didn't crack under pressure, even with the McLaren right behind him. 'It's been a while since we've had two cars on the podium with a win, and that's why everyone is delighted.'
