EMILIA-ROMAGNA GP – Max Verstappen passes Charles Leclerc to secure pole after the Monacan suffers graining
Max Verstappen has beaten championship rival Charles Leclerc in the sprint securing pole position for Sunday’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The sprint was another dual between the two title rivals with the Ferrari driver managing to hold Verstappen behind until the final three laps when he got a brilliant run out of Rivazza all the way to Tamburello where he made the move.
Verstappen’s pole position also allowed him to slightly close the gap in the driver’s championship. The move beautifully judged and well-timed, as the world champion looked on fire throughout the sprint, having being bogged down at the start. The lead regained the hopes of a Ferrari win were over for the Tosfi
With the aid of DRS and as his Ferrari rival battled oversteer, Verstappen dived around the outside into Tamburello and kept his car on track to take the win and pole in the closing stages. Leclerc then retained the lead following the safety car caused by a collision between Guanyu Zhou and Pierre Gasly brought out the safety car.
When the race resumed, Leclerc looked on course to sail to pole but started to suffer graining on the front left tyres which allowed Verstappen to close up and strike the Monacan on the penultimate lap. The world champion had managed to preserve his Pirelli tyres for longer and with his rival battling oversteer it allowed him to strike.
Leclerc, who has won two of the opening three races of the season, was able to deny Verstappen at first, but the reigning world champion was not to be denied on the penultimate lap, as he boldly drove round the outside at Turn One at the end of the DRS zone to take the lead.
He told reporters, “It’s still a front row start. We struggled with the tyres at the end, so we need to analyse that for tomorrow. We need to make sure that we’re ready. The pace was good until then, we started to have some graining on the front left and lost it towards the end. That’s life, we’ll go to work and come back stronger tomorrow.”
Verstappen teammate Sergio Perez was third making up four places from where he started on the grid. The Mexican in the closing stages managed to close like lightning followed by the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz to go behind their two teammates, Perez in the closing stages being a second and seven-tenths behind Leclerc.
Sainz meanwhile had a brilliant recovery drive having crashed out at the end of Q2 on Friday evening meaning he moves to third in the driers championship. The Spaniard being confidence that he can bounce back and take his first win from fourth in the Grand Prix.
McLaren managed to continue to show they have put the nightmare in Bahrain behind them, Lando Norris taking fifth three tenths ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Norris in the early part of the sprint looked able to fend off Verstappen or at least stay with him as he threatened to challenge him at Tamburello. That attempt had to be aborted when further back Zhou and Gasly crashed into each other on the opening lap.
It followed a difficult FP2 for McLaren when Norris’s session was limited by a brake issue and Ricciardo failed to run because of an issue with his car.
The Alfa Romeo driver tried to go around the outside of the Frenchman through Piratella, making contact Gasly was pushed wide and gained a puncher while Zhou spun into the wall bringing out the safety car because of the damage caused to his Alfa Romeo was forced to retire from the sprint.
Valtteri Bottas was seventh finishing ahead of the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, Fernando Alonso and Mick Schumacher. Magnussen slipped from fourth to eighth and after initially looking as if he could have held on to fourth he found out his mediums were not enough to fight with those around him on the soft tyres, losing out to Ricciardo, Sainz and Bottas.
Alonso was the stand out performer in the sprint last season, however, it was not as fruitful as the Alpine driver lost four places during the sprint to start ninth ahead of Mick Schumacher.
Mercedes hopes of using the sprint to make up places following their first double Q2 elimination in a decade saw them unable to make up ground, George Russell retaining eleventh and Lewis Hamilton fourteenth. This time however being split by Sebastian Vettel and Yuki Tsunoda.
Lance Stroll finished fifteenth for Aston Martin, six tenths ahead of Esteban Ocon. Pierre Gasly who was a surprise Q1 knockout in qualifying was unable to make up ground in the sprint and stayed seventeenth, ahead of the two Williams of Alex Albon and Nicolas Latifi.
Gasly’s hopes of making up ground were halted in the collision on the opening lap with Zhou, the accident lead to an lengthy safety car which neutered much of the chances for everyone to try and make up positions.
Related
- EMILIA-ROMANGA GP – George Russell fastest by eight hundredths in second practice
- EMILIA-ROMAGNA GP – Qualifying Result
- EMILIA-ROMAGNA GP – Charles Leclerc Takes Pole For The Sprint By Just Under Eight Tenths Ahead Of Max Verstappen
- F1 Today – Emilia-Romagna Prixview – 21/04/2022
- PRIXVIEW – Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix