April 24, (THEWILL) –Â Verstappen led home a Red Bull 1-2 over teammate Sergio Perez in a wet-dry race from pole position on Sunday, at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz was pushed off by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo at the first corner, and Charles Leclerc spun into the barrier while attempting to attack Perez, putting Ferrari’s home race in jeopardy.
Leclerc dropped to ninth after being forced to pit for a new nose and front wing, but recovered to finish sixth.
In wet conditions and with the entire race starting on intermediate tyres, Verstappen maintained his pole position on the run to Turn 1, while teammate Perez and Lando Norris of McLaren stormed past Leclerc to finish second and third, respectively.
Ricciardo collided with Sainz behind them at Tamburello, leaving Sainz trapped in the gravel, much as he had been the previous time out in Melbourne. Ricciardo was also clipped by Valtteri Bottas in his Alfa Romeo, and he dropped to eighth place when Ricciardo pitted and restarted in last place.
Verstappen led Perez, Norris, Leclerc, Kevin Magnussen (Haas), and George Russell, whose Mercedes took advantage of a strong start and the turmoil in front of him to move up to sixth.
On Lap 8, Leclerc passed Norris for third at Tamburello, while Magnussen and Russell battled for fifth, trading positions at Tamburello on Lap 12 and Variante Alta. Two laps later, Bottas passed Magnussen at Rivazza.
As the track dried out, Ricciardo was the first to pit for slicks on Lap 17, followed by Perez two laps later. Verstappen and Leclerc came to a halt a lap later, with Leclerc leapfrogging Perez at the Villeneuve chicane, but the Mexican retook the lead on his warmer slicks.
At half distance, Verstappen was 10 seconds ahead of Perez, who had averted a grassy excursion on Lap 29 at Variante Alta. On Lap 34, DRS was introduced, and Yuki Tsuonda of AlphaTauri took advantage of it to pass Magnussen on Lap 48 and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel on Lap 54.
With 13 laps to go, Leclerc pitted for soft tyres, briefly sliding to fourth behind Norris before DRS-ing by him a lap later, while Perez pitted to cover him and Verstappen pitted to preserve his fastest lap point.
In the final ten laps, Leclerc went after Perez, but he spun into the wall at Variante Alta after hitting the kerb too hard. He was able to rejoin the race, but he had to pit for a new front wing, which dropped him to ninth place.
Verstappen won by 16 seconds over Perez, with Norris finishing third ahead of the competing Russell and Bottas.
In the closing stages, Leclerc overcame Magnussen, Vettel, and Tsunoda to finish sixth. The rest of the top 10 finish were Tsunoda, Vettel, Magnussen, and Lance Stroll in his Aston Martin. Mercedes lead driver, Sir Lewis Hamilton, ended outside the top 10, in 13th place as the Mercedes troubled 2022 calendar continued.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
