Verstappen turns tables on McLaren with decisive Imola win

Max Verstappen won Red Bull Racing’s 400th grand prix after a breathtaking first-corner move got him past pole-getter Oscar Piastri and into the lead at Imola.

The McLaren driver got what looked like the perfect start from pole, but the second phase of his getaway wasn’t as quick, with George Russell and Verstappen jockeying for position on his gearbox. Piastri attempted to play it safe by holding the inside line to block the easy move, but Verstappen punished him for his conservatism with a perfectly judged late-braking move around the outside.

Verstappen drew alongside Piastri in the braking zone and pinned the unsuspecting Australian onto the apex, allowing him to claim the second part of the chicane and power into the lead in a championship-caliber move on the title leader.

The lead proved crucial in an early phase of the race dominated by management of the medium tire, which was last year’s soft compound at this track. By lap 10 drivers were already beginning to battle badly wearing rubber. Immediately thoughts of one-stop strategies were discarded, and Charles Leclerc kicked off the first stops early from ninth place.

It proved pivotal to the battle of the podium. Lando Norris took third from Russell on lap 11, and at the end of that lap the Mercedes driver came in for fresh rubber. Despite what had been a significant gap back to Leclerc in the first stint, he rejoined the race behind the Ferrari, demonstrating the power of the undercut.

Piastri suddenly looked vulnerable, and McLaren responded two laps later to cover. He emerged from pit lane ahead of Leclerc and Russell, but he was buried down in 12th, deep in the midfield.

The Australian overtook his way forward ferociously, but lap after lap he was losing time to Verstappen and second-placed Norris, both of whom were managing their pace in clear air. By lap 28 he was back up to fourth place, but his margin to the lead was a whopping 32s, his race effectively run.

A virtual safety car on lap 29 – for Esteban Ocon’s stopped Haas – ironically made his life more difficult, gifting Verstappen a free stop that cemented his lead while preventing him from meaningfully closing the gap to Norris ahead, but a safety car on lap 46 to recover Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s stopped Mercedes threatened to reset his race with his teammate.

Another hard battle between the McLaren drivers went Norris's way this time. Lars Baron/Getty Images

Norris took the chance to make a second stop for fresh hards but Piastri remained on track, copping a 16-lap tire deficit at the restart. It reversed their on-track order, dropping the Briton back behind the Australian in second and third.

Norris was quickly on team radio to remind the team of the state of play – that its only hope of winning the race was to have his fresher tires in second place behind Verstappen, though he insisted he wasn’t asking to be waved through.

It put the team in a complex quandary, with pursuit of the teams' and drivers' titles in conflict. The pit wall decided not to interfere, leaving its drivers to dice for the place.

It took five laps for Norris to impress himself upon his teammate, with a better exit out of the final Rivazza and DRs getting him alongside Piastri’s outside into the first braking zone. Piastri pressed his case, but he didn’t have the grip to hang with the sister car, and after coming inches from contact, Norris broke through into second place.

By then, however, Verstappen was already 5s up the road with only five laps remaining – too much for Norris to close. The Dutchman duly took his second victory of the season, his margin 6.1s.

“The start itself wasn’t particularly great, but I was still on the outside line – basically the normal line – so I tried to send it around the outside, and it worked really well and it unleashed our pace," he explained. “Once I was in the lead, the car was good. I could look after the tires and we had good pace.

“Incredibly proud of everyone It’s been a very important week for us. The car’s performed really well. The execution of the whole race – when to pit, the pit stops themselves – were all very good.”

Norris suggested Red Bull Racing was simply the quicker car in race pace as an explanation for McLaren’s inability to grasp the grand prix.

“Max drove a good race,” he said. “They were quick today and probably even quicker [than us]. We couldn’t keep up. They were too good for us today.”

While Norris was relatively upbeat, having reduced his championship deficit to 13 points, Piastri was disappointed to have converted pole to P3, lamenting what he said were strategic errors that cost him second or better.

“It was a good move by Max [at the start],” he said. “But I think we made a few wrong calls after that anyway.

“Not our best Sunday. Definitely a lot of things to look at and review from that one.”

Lewis Hamilton was a popular and remarkable fourth in his debut race in Italy for Ferrari, up from 12th on the grid, after having his race made by the virtual safety car. The Briton had started on the hard tire, and the mid-race interruption was perfectly timed for his strategy. The late safety car dropped him to seventh, but a series of incisive overtakes on Russell and Alex Albon and a wave-past by teammate Leclerc earned him his best grand prix finish of the year.

Leclerc's battle with Albon led to another "strong disagreement" over rules. Lars Baron/Getty Images

Albon finished fifth for the second race in a row and third time of the season after Leclerc was told to hand him back the place, having been placed under investigation for pushing the Williams off the road at the first chicane. Albon had been alongside Leclerc attempting to overtake around the outside when he left the road, but the Ferrari man argued this year’s racing rules should have had him in the clear.

Russell finished seventh for Mercedes ahead of Carlos Sainz, Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda, who recovered from the pit lane to score the final point of the race.

Fernando Alonso blamed the bad timing of the virtual safety car for dumping him from fifth on the grid to out of the points in 11th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto, Oliver Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto.