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EMILIA ROMAGNA GP – Max Verstappen hold off Lando Norris in tight closing laps battle to take seven tenth win

Testing & Race Reports
Jack
19-05-2024

Max Verstappen held off Lando Norris in a thrilling fight to win the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix by seven-tenths of a second. The two fought hard on what has been a tough weekend for Red Bull to take back-to-back wins at Imola after winning the last race in 2022, as he fought hard.

The Dutchman held Norris off from the start but as the race progressed it became clear that Red Bull were not able to pull away by as much as he would normally do. But Norris was not able to close the gap enough in the closing stages to try and get the move done to take the victory.

The only time Verstappen had a comfortable lead was around lap forty-three before Norris had past Charles Leclerc, but five laps later he made a mistake allowing the McLaren to close in and allowed Norris to pass.

Norris was just over a second behind in the closing laps but just outside DRS range of the four-time champion, that could of have him the little edge he needed to try and overtake Verstappen. In a Grand Prix which had looked to be a slow burner until the battle developed between the two.

Verstappen’s world championship lead grows to 48 points, with Leclerc displacing Perez in second. Norris remains fourth, sixty points off the lead, but just six back from Perez in third.

The battle between Verstappen and Norris for the victory was similar to the one between Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006, but McLaren didn’t have the pace to hunt down and pass Verstappen and follow Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton by taking a maiden and second win back-to-back.

Verstappen at third of the way through the season still looks to be the favourite for a fifth title, however he will need to fight a bit harder than he needed to last season and McLaren could be starting to take the march on Ferrari and Mercedes in the fight for second in the constructors.

Throughout the weekend Red Bull have doubted their performance, but it appears those doubts were valid as the Dutchman didn’t ease off into distance has he has done so many times in recent season. The gap stabilised at just under eight seconds.

Verstappen said “The whole race I had to push to the limit. On the medium tyre we were quite strong, but on the hard tyre we struggled and it’s very difficult when you have to push flat out and the tyres are not working any more.”

Norris said: “It hurts me to say it, but one or two more laps and I think I would have had him. Tough. Just lost out too much to Max in the beginning. He was stronger in the first stint. We are at a point now where we can say we are in the position with Ferrari and Red Bull. We have to get used to it. We are fighting for first and second now.”

Leclerc was third seven seconds behind Norris returning Ferrari to the podium for the first time at Imola since 2006. Leclerc split the two McLaren’s as he finished a comfortable near seven seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri while his teammate Carlos Sainz was fifth. The Ferrari’s looked as if they didn’t have the same pace to trouble McLaren.

Leclerc looked on course for second, but as Norris piled on the pressure in the second half of the race, a mistake followed. The Monacan under pressure made a mistake at Variante Alta lifting the pressure off Norris, while he attempted to close within five seconds as Verstappen was one track limits breach away from a five second penalty.

Also looking for a boost will be Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton sixth behind Sainz by thirteen seconds. the seven-time champion gained track position from teammate George Russell who made a late stop to gain track position which dropped the Englishman to seventh and twelve second behind teammate Hamilton but he did take the extra point for fastest lap.

Sergio Perez was eighth the second Red Bull recovering from eleventh on a circuit where its more difficult to overtake. The Mexican, who could be fighting to hold onto his seat next season was ahead of his former teammate Lance Stroll who scored his first points since Melbourne.

Perez started on the hard tyres and ran on a long first stint, in the middle of which he, too, ran into the gravel, this time at Rivazza, and then switched to the medium, when all those in front started on the mediums. Despite his tyre advantage into the second stint and the fact that he was driving a Red Bull, Perez was barely any quicker than the Mercedes in front of him.

Yuki Tsunoda, who was one of the stars of qualifying, couldn’t find the same pace to convert six into decent points for RB. But the Japanese driver did take the final point for the team, and add to the pressure growing on teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Tsunoda was the first of the lapped cars with Haas having one of the better races of the season, Nico Hulkenberg eleventh only losing one place and his teammate Kevin Magnussen twelfth. The Dane came through from eighteenth to give the team one of their best results of the season.

Tsunoda’s strong weekend is likely to add to the pressure on teammate Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian seven hundredths behind Magnussen. Esteban Ocon was fourteenth as the Sauber of Guanyu Zhou spilt the two Alpine’s, he was nearly five seconds ahead of Pierre Gasly.

Logan Sargeant was eighteenth ahead of Valtteri Bottas with Alonso completing the finishers. The 2006 race winner had a difficult weekend where he was knocked out in Q1 and never made any progress from where he started the race from.

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