Formula One champion Max Verstappen on Sunday dominated in a Red Bull rout of Ferrari at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, Italy.
Verstappen won from the pole, logged the fastest lap and picked up his second win of the season, while leading teammate Sergio Perez to the first one-two Red Bull finish since Malaysia in 2016.
“Lovely Sunday,” Verstappen radioed his Red Bull team on a race day that was dreary, overcast and misty.
Photo: AFP
However, the Dutchman scored maximum points on the weekend — he also won the sprint qualifying race on Saturday — and led Red Bull in its embarrassment of Ferrari on home soil.
“It’s always tough to achieve something like that,” Verstappen said of the perfect weekend. “We were on it. You never know with the weather how competitive you are going to be, but I think as a team we did everything well and this one-two is very deserved.”
Lando Norris was third for McLaren.
It was a disastrous race for Ferrari, racing on its home soil and hoping to celebrate a return to F1 dominance.
Charles Leclerc came into Sunday as the championship leader with two wins in the first three races, while Carlos Sainz Jr celebrated a two-year contract extension this weekend in Italy.
However, Leclerc could not get the jump on Verstappen at the start and never contended, while Sainz spun off course on the opening lap to ruin his race.
Leclerc had a 46-point lead in the standings over reigning champion Verstappen at the start of the weekend, but Verstappen cut the gap to 27 points and moved into second.
“I was too greedy and I paid the price for it and lost seven potential points,” Leclerc told Sky Sports. “It is a shame, it is seven points that are valuable at the end of the championship for sure and this shouldn’t happen again.”
Verstappen was passed by Leclerc at the start of the sprint qualifying race on Saturday, but come race day, Verstappen got off to a good start.
Leclerc plummeted as he was passed by Perez and Norris.
Leclerc eventually got up to third and was chasing the Red Bulls when he spun off course.
It rained heavily in the morning, but cleared off by the start of the race, and although the track was still wet, it quickly dried and drivers had to change their tires for the new conditions.
The race featured a stirring late battle between Mercedes newcomer George Russell and Valtteri Bottas, the driver he replaced. The two went down to the final lap for fourth position, with Russell holding off the veteran for the spot.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton continued his early struggles and finished 13th.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff apologized to Hamilton over the radio for the “undriveable” car that Hamilton was given in Italy.
On Sunday, Hamilton was lapped by Verstappen on lap 39.
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