Verstappen grabs commanding victory at Emilia-Romagna
Max Verstappen took the lead in the first corner of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and never gave it away anymore. Even the safety car period near the end of the race could help the McLaren duo, leading to Norris finishing second and pole sitter Piastri completing the podium.
The Italian sun set the stage for a beautiful race at an equally beautiful Autodromo di Enzo e Dino Ferrari. After a fairly long wait for all cars to take their positions on the grid, the lights went out and the race was on. The front runners has equally strong starts but Verstappen immediately opted for a very courageous move, holding onto the outside of the left hander alongside Piastri. The McLaren driver held on but then had to concede first place in the following right corner.
By the end of the first lap Verstappen had immediately pulled a 0.9 second gap and it soon appeared that Russell was the first to struggle with his tyres. A train formed and Norris started to pressure the Mercedes driver hard, repeatedly attempting to make a pass until on the third pass, in lap 11 when the McLaren driver made an outside move at Villeneuve stick.
Russell had already warned he wouldn't manage to keep his tyres last until the target, so soon enough he pitted, just like the Aston Martins and Sainz. Piastri followed suit while Verstappen, Norris, the Ferrari duo and Albon went on.
Norris then pitted on lap 29 after having been unable to really close in on Verstappen. Half a lap later, luck was on Verstappen's side as parked alongside the track. The resulting VSC pretty much gave Verstappen a free stop. All those who hadn't yet stopped of course also did at this time, and curiously this also included Piastri, dropping the Australian down from second to fourth, losing positions to Norris and Albon.
Though it's quite difficult to make passes at this track the differing strategies obviously created opportunities. The Ferrari duo for instance benefited greatly with Hamilton 5th and Leclerc 7th by lap 39. Antonelli and Russell followed up next with Alonso completing the top 10, holding on to that last point scoring position.
It didn't last long and it was clear not pitting during the VSC was a mistake. Alonso was easily passed by Hulkenberg on lap 41, followed by Sainz one lap later. Another two laps later the Spaniard is passed by Tsunoda, triggering a call to his team "Yeah it's going to be torture. I'm the unluckiest drivers in the world!".
Up in front things were less eventful with Verstappen enjoying a lead of 18 seconds over Norris. Piastri meanwhile cleared Albon and set a couple of fastest laps but still trailed Norris by 13 seconds on lap 45, with 18 remaining.
In that same lap, Antonelli reported a technical issue and parked his car in pretty much the same place as Ocon before. Race control this time opted for a full safety car procedure, predictably triggering pitstops for a number of drivers. Verstappen pitted, like Norris, Hamilton, Hadjar, Alonso, Stroll, Colapinto and Bortoleto. Albon pitted later while Piastri was left out, just like Leclerc.
The stops allowed Verstappen to stay ahead thanks to his massive advantage, but Piastri was back up into second place, followed by Norris, Leclerc, Albon, Russell, Hamilton, Sainz, Hadjar, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda, Gasly, Lawson, Alonso, Stroll, Colapinto, Bortoleto and Bearman. The top 9 were on hard tyres.
Behind the SC, the radio was busy. Leclerc pointed out he was worried he wouldn't be able to stay in the points with his older tyres while Norris reported that Piastri's tyres looked bad, and he asked to be let past to have a better chance at passing Verstappen.
Clearing the Mercedes took quite a while and it was only at the end of lap 53 that the safety car left the track and the race could continue.
The restart was well executed by Verstappen who at no point was threatened by Piastri. Leclerc however was pushing Norris while Hamilton was very close to Russell.
As Verstappen set the fastest lap on lap 56, Norris edged closer to Piastri. Tsunoda got into the points by pressuring Hulkenberg into a small mistake. Hamilton then made his way past Russell and into P6. One lap later Norris made exactly the same pass on Piastri.
Hamilton meanwhile wasn't content yet and quickly closed in on Albon, who himself was right on Leclerc's tail. Further back, Alonso made strides and cleared Lawson, then Gasly and Hulkenberg to move into 11th, a second down on Tsunoda and 3 laps remaining.
When Albon then attempted to make it past Leclerc round the outside of Villeneuve, lie Hamilton and Norris did before, Leclerc was quite forceful and required Albon to go through the gravel, enabling Hamilton to sneek past. The Brit made perfect use of his fresher tyres to get past Leclerc again the next lap, placing the Ferrari's in 4th and 5th again, exactly as they were right before the safety car.
When an investigation started, Leclerc was asked to let Albon past as he was most likely going to be deemed at fault. It didn't make Leclerc's fuming day any better but he still complied, resulting in a 6th place finish.
