Max Verstappen took a step closer to McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the Formula 1 drivers’ standings with a stunning victory at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Dutchman secured his fourth win at Imola in a row from second on the grid, finishing ahead of Norris and Piastri, while Lewis Hamilton gave the Tifosi something to shout about with a comeback drive to finish fourth.
With success stories and struggles up and down the grid, who are the winners and losers from what is likely to be the last F1 race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari?
Winner – Red Bull
Verstappen was the major winner from the weekend but for Red Bull as an entity, it was a hugely important – and impressive – performance.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit had been subject of rumours ahead of its 400th F1 grand prix event, with reports originating in Austria suggesting team principal Christian Horner faced being axed should an upgrade package not pull the RB21 closer to McLaren.
That was rubbished by the team but it was on track that Red Bull did the talking. Unlike at the Japanese Grand Prix, where Verstappen had secured his only prior win this term, the four-time champion was unable to clinch pole from McLaren’s grasp.
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Instead, his win was built after a sublime move around the outside of polesitter Piastri into Tamburello at the start. What was more remarkable was the fact that before he broke later than anyone else for the first braking zone of the lap, Verstappen looked set to fall behind George Russell’s Mercedes.
The race would have looked more different had that happened and even with a late-race safety car, Verstappen could pull away from the McLarens, setting a fastest lap to boot.
Yuki Tsunoda scored a point from the pitlane despite Imola’s narrow layout, the Japanese rebounding from a nasty crash in qualifying that saw him roll his car at Villeneuve.
The crash is something that will stick in his team’s mind given the cost involved, but the fact he was able to take something from what had been a promising start to the weekend is at least positive.
Loser – Oscar Piastri
For all that was said about how Piastri had learned how to ‘Verstappen’ Verstappen in Miami after team-mate Norris’ overtaking trouble against his rival at the Miami Grand Prix, the Australian’s defence against the Red Bull was rather tame.
He had the inside line, he could afford to brake later and ensure he had the high ground for Tamburello yet he gave Verstappen the opportunity to look like a hero.
In much the same way we have spoken about Norris’ wheel-to-wheel combat with him, Piastri would never have been allowed to make the same move had Verstappen been on the inside and would have likely been forced to bail over the grass and gravel that awaited off-track.
Piastri was unlucky with how the race panned out from there strategy-wise, the championship leader put on the back foot with older tyres than Verstappen and Norris when the safety car was called in the final quarter following Kimi Antonelli’s retirement.
Whether he would have fought Verstappen for the win given the Red Bull’s pace is hard to tell, but losing ground to both title rivals will sting.
Winner – Lewis Hamilton
With plenty made of Hamilton and Ferrari’s struggles in the opening quarter of the campaign, failing to reach Q3 at Imola was just another point to add to the list of concerns.
The fact that Leclerc also failed to progress from Q2 on Saturday would have at least tempered Hamilton’s worries, an indication of Ferrari’s pace troubles over one lap.
The Scuderia’s race pace was blistering though, as evidenced by both drivers’ fight into the top 10. But while Leclerc pitted early and would be another to lose out because of the late safety car, Hamilton profited by starting on the hard tyre, running long before a switch to mediums and then getting the bonus of a free pitstop to continue his assault on the top five.
Another lap and the seven-time champion would likely have made his way through on Piastri for third. A welcome return to positive form after his recent issues.
Loser – Alpine
The news after Miami was dominated by the shake-up at Alpine, which saw team principal Oliver Oakes resign and Jack Doohan moved aside for Franco Colapinto.
A new look management saw Flavio Briatore take on de facto control, though Dave Greenwood has taken on a team representative role, meaning he will be the one who faces the media.
The French manufacturer had far from a smooth weekend, with the Argentine driver hardly vindicating the decision to take Doohan out of the car. Colapinto was off the pace of team-mate Pierre Gasly throughout practice before crashing out of qualifying on the exit of Tamburello – adding to his list of crashes outstanding from his Williams substitute role at the end of last year.
While he didn’t have the pace to challenge for points on Sunday, Gasly would have had he not run wide at Piratella early on and dropping down the order. It ended up as a disappointing weekend when the team could have done with a strong showing to take away noise from the off-track stories.
Winner – Williams
Alex Albon’s stellar start to the season continued with a top-five at Imola which, while helped by the late safety car, looked a possibility from the very start of the weekend.
The Thai-Briton made the most of a late pitstop to attack and pass Leclerc and take his tally for the season to 40, some 29 more than team-mate Carlos Sainz.
In Sainz’s defence, he was on pace with Albon across the weekend and started in front as the duo took sixth and seventh on the grid. Only Fernando Alonso’s strong one-lap effort for Aston Martin, which ultimately fell backwards through the field in the race, prevented a top-five grid position.
But Sainz was one of a number of drivers to take an early stop and lose track position and, with Albon running longer into the race, he took the upper hand to ensure his better finishing position.
The Grove-based outfit has barely poot a foot wrong this season and has gone to the top of the midfield over the winter. Haas sits 31 points behind in the race for fifth place in the constructors’ standings and while everything can change in the blink of an eye in F1, Williams’ consistency so far has been a fantastic reward for the hard work that has been put in to turn things around since James Vowles joined as team principal.
Loser – Haas
That distance to Williams was largely helped by an off weekend for Haas. The top 10 was never troubled by either driver as both fell out of qualifying in Q1, though things may have been different had Oliver Bearman’s lap counted as he just missed the red flag cut-off when Colapinto hit the barriers.
Haas awaits clarification from the FIA on the matter but ultimately, it didn’t matter as both Bearman and Esteban Ocon would fail to reach the chequered flag – the Briton pitting after his team-mate stopped on track just after the Tosa hairpin.
It’s by no means panic stations for the American-owned squad, but the yo-yoing form may be of concern to team principal Ayao Komatsu. Sixth in the constructors’ is a promising start after seven races, but at least two nightmare weekends will be enough to prompt worry.
