Max Verstappen goes on to win F1 Emilia-Romagna GP after Norris surges Formula 1

Max Verstappen cruised to victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix but the Red Bull driver was beaten by McLaren after a brilliant final ) were chased down by Lando Norris, who couldn’t quite make a move and ended up finishing second and third with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished fourth, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz fifth and Mercedes’ George Russell George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had little impact, finishing sixth and seventh respectively.

It looked like a solid if unspectacular victory for Verstappen, only for a late-stage drama to see him denied the honors at Enzo Dino Ferrari Rhys gave chase. Verstappen had to use all his skills to stop the British driver, who won at the final round in Miami, but only marginally. His lead at the flag was seven-tenths of a second, his closest lead so far this season, in fact in years.

The Dutchman held the lead from the start, opening up a gap and controlling it, while behind him the tight track and tight gap ensured that much of the race was a parade. The chasing vehicles were very close to each other, but none had a sufficient speed advantage to enable overtaking. However, in the final 10 laps, when Verstappen’s tire blew out, Norris charged at him but quickly ran out of time, a heroic and brilliant effort that produced the best one-on-one of the season. Contest.

With Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez finishing eighth, Verstappen’s lead in the title race increased to 48 points, now ahead of second-placed Leclerc.

After a weekend in which Red Bull struggled to adapt to their set-up as they adapted to a series of upgrades brought with Imola – the car lacked grip and balance until they turned things around in qualifying – it would be To see it as a win they and ultimately Verstappen really have to hone in and show how he and Red Bull can remain adaptable and effective operationally to an extraordinary level.

Verstappen has five wins from seven races this season and is yet to be beaten from pole position. His third victory at Imola was the 59th of his career.

Verstappen held the lead in the sprint to Turn 1 and Norris fought hard, but the world champion held his own and that was crucial on a track where overtaking is extremely difficult.

Norris had to stay with Verstappen, but the Dutchman struggled to open a gap beyond DRS range in the early laps. However, he wasn’t able to hit the distance like he did in the opening game. The McLaren was now clearly the better car and Norris held within 1.8 seconds on lap six as it was beyond his reach to overtake him at this stage and he decided not to overtax the tires.

However, Verstappen once again proved unstoppable, setting a series of fastest laps and gradually opening up the lead through pace control, his consistency ruthless.

As they rode the bikes through the only pit stop of the race, Verstappen looked to seam it up, six seconds ahead and accepted a warning for exceeding track limits, choosing caution over bravery, relaxing to maintain the gap, Without pushing too hard.

However, there was a sting at the rear as the laps counted down and Norris was able to pick up the pace after being advised by the team to go easy on the tires early in his second pit stop. By lap 55, he turned up the wick and the gap was closing. Verstappen ran out of tires and a six-second lead turned to three seconds, then to just over a second with three laps remaining.

Norris gave it his all and so did Verstappen to keep the car on track and stay in the lead. Norris could see his rival and the gap was just over a second on the penultimate lap.

What follows is a nerve-wracking final lap. Norris was within DRS range, but could not get close enough to pass. Verstappen kept his composure and took the win, but just when McLaren and Norris noticed he wasn’t going to have everything go his way this season.

Lance Stroll was ninth for Aston Martin and Yuki Tsunoda was tenth for RB.