Formula 1 ®
Max Holds Off Norris At Imola To Bank Fifth Victory Of 2024 Formula One Season!
Max Verstappen dug in for a brilliant Emilia Romagna Grand Prix victory on Sunday as he held off a late charge from McLaren’s Lando Norris with Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez eighth and Visa Cash App RB duo Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo finishing in 10th and 13th respectively.
After being beaten in Miami, where friend and rival Norris claimed his maiden victory for McLaren, the Dutchman resisted him to come home 0.725 seconds ahead of the Briton who mounted a rousing final attack in vain. Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari ahead of Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren, Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
Sergio Perez was eighth in the second Red Bull ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, in his Faenza-based team’s home event.
Max
Verstappen, 26, said: “I think the whole race I had to push flat out to try and make a gap initially. I think on the medium tyres we were quite strong, on the hards tyres it was just a bit more difficult to manage, especially in the last 10, 15 laps. I had no grip anymore, I was really sliding a lot. I saw Lando closing in, so the last 10 laps I was just flat out. It’s very difficult when the tyres are not working anymore and you have to go flat out. I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes. Luckily we didn’t, and super happy of course to win here today.”
Norris said: “It’s frustrating! This feels more painful. It hurts me to say so, but with one or two more laps I think I’d have had him.”
Leclerc, whose podium finish for Ferrari in their heartland was acclaimed by masses of tifosi, said: “At least a podium! Of course, I wanted to win and I didn’t make it.
“They were incredibly quick at the end, but it’s looking good for us for the rest of the season. Monaco is going to be special.”
Having eased off to preserve his tyres, Norris mounted a late charge and trimmed Verstappen’s lead on successive laps to put him under intense pressure. With seven laps to go, he was only two seconds adrift and closing in. “I’m pushing as hard as I can mate,” said Norris on team radio when encouraged to hunt a second victory.
Hard as he tried to turn the screw Verstappen scraped home on the day Formula One remembered the late great Ayrton Senna, who died in a crash at the circuit three decades ago.
Fernando
RACE P19
“It was a difficult day and weekend in general for us. We started from the pit lane and changed a few things on the setup of the car. It meant that we could gather a lot of data which we need to analyse over the next couple of days. We opted for the Soft tyres at the start of the race and we were hoping for a Safety Car to change things up. When nothing happened ahead of us, we looked to try a few different compounds out and essentially used it as a bit of a test session. We will need to regroup and put ourselves in the best position in Monaco.”
