Verstappen survives late Norris charge to claim Imola F1 win

With Ricciardo having dropped behind Perez, RB pulled the pin and boxed him on Lap 11 onto the Hard to grant him clear air, with Tsunoda following next time around. Haas responded to Tsunoda’s stop on the next lap, but it proved to be too late as the Japanese driver had put the hammer down on fresh rubber to emerge just ahead.

Despite conceding his practice struggles had made his race prospects an unknown, Verstappen was continuing to streak clear and had created a five-second margin. However, Red Bull team-mate Perez had been struggling to make up ground on the Hard and a wide moment into the gravel at the first Rivazza cost him five seconds.

George Russell was the first of the front-running drivers to dive into the pits on Lap 21, Mercedes servicing him with a 2.4s stop as he emerged behind Esteban Ocon. While Tsunoda’s earlier stop had granted him track position over Hulkenberg, the RB racer had encountered Logan Sargeant and was struggling to mount an overtake.

McLaren aimed to avoid Ferrari pitting and giving Leclerc an undercut advantage on Norris, but the Briton’s stop on Lap 22 saw him come out behind Perez’s Red Bull. However, Norris was situated behind the Mexican for a sole lap as he utilised his added grip and the DRS to move back into the top five down the start-finish straight. McLaren had pitted Piastri on the next lap and both drivers were putting in blistering lap times as Ferrari remained on track and took the lead when Verstappen pitted. Ferrari reacted to the strong pace Norris and Piastri were setting with a stop for Leclerc on Lap 25, the Monegasque emerging behind both Norris and Perez in sixth.

But like Norris had managed a handful of laps earlier in proceedings, Perez was no match to the fresher-rubbered Ferrari and Leclerc made a crucial pass on his rival. Perez being compromised through Tamburello gave Piastri the chance to position his car to gain the high ground on the inside line going into the Villeneuve Chicane.

Sainz stopped at the end of that lap and lost track position to the McLaren as expected, while Hamilton had locked up and trailed through the gravel at Acque Minerali.

Tsunoda had been stuck behind Sargeant but completed a bold move around the outside into Turn 2, with Hulkenberg replicating that a few corners later at Villeneuve.

Back towards the battle for the podium places, Sainz dispatched Perez on the inside of Tamburello on Lap 30. However, he had slipped six seconds back from Piastri. Russell became the latest to demote the Red Bull through the braking zone at the end of the start-finish straight at Turn 2 with an overtake on the inside to seize sixth.

Tsunoda’s charge through the field against drivers who were still circling on their starting rubber continued with a pass on Zhou’s defenceless Sauber into Tamburello. Hulkenberg would ensure that Tsunoda could not relent his pace, though, as he swept past Zhou to progress into 12th place to run two seconds adrift of the RB driver.

Perez’s drop through the pack increased as Hamilton overtook him into Tamburello on Lap 37, prompting Red Bull to call him into the pits to move onto the Mediums. Although he had lost the position he had gained at the start on Ricciardo, Perez wasted no time in regaining the spot on the Australian at Turn 2 to rise into the top 10. Next up on Perez’s radar was Hulkenberg’s Haas and the veteran German was powerless to prevent the Red Bull from breezing clear with DRS moving into Tamburello.