Heroics Into Saint Devote

Hello and welcome back to the infamous Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, bathed in glorious sunshine with merely a few clouds in the sky. The weather was terrific, as was the triumph of Dutchman Max ‘Franz Hermann’ Verstappen, as the reigning World Champion took the chequered flag in a commanding victory over Mclaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in Third. The Dutchman claimed his second victory of the season and 65th of his career in brilliant style. After he took the lead on the first lap from pole-sitter Piastri, floating around the outside into the Tamburello Chicane, he never looked back. And whilst he was fortunate with the timing of a Virtual Safety Car (VSC), he proved that he has an ability that other drivers simply cannot replicate.

Qualifying.

The weekend marked the debut of Pirelli’s new C6 Soft Compound tyre, and it wasn’t overly liked by the drivers. It’s only real appearance was in qualifying. Oscar Piastri made the point that the tyre is difficult to keep alive across a lap, nevermind a stint. This made both Aston Martin drivers and George Russell of Mercedes to tackle Q3 with the C5 Medium compound, as that could retain it’s performance across the lap. But onto qualifying.

Tsunoda had shown decent pace in practice this weekend, though he took ‘flying lap’ literally in qualifying. Coming into the Villeneuve Chicane, the Japanese driver took alot of kerb on the inside of the left hander, which spat his RB21 out sideways and threw him into the barrier. The car then turned over, doing a sort of barrel roll before landing upright in the gravel. It’s accidents like these that make us thankful for the ever-evolving safety measures that are in place in this sport. Only a decade or so ago and that accident may well have taken the life of it’s driver. But both the halo and the roll hoop held strong on the Red Bull car and saved Tsunoda’s life. The controversial return of Franco Colapinto also went awry, with the Argentine finding the wall at Tamburello and bowing out of Qualifying, even though he set a time good enough for Q2.Though the Argentine also took a 1-place grid penalty for leaving his garage before a confirmed restart time was sent out by Race Control. Eliminated in Q1 were Tsunoda in 20th with no time (obviously), Ocon 19th, Hulkenberg, Lawson and Colapinto after his lap time was deleted in 18th, 17th and 16th respectively.

Q2 didn’t have any incidents like Q1, with Sainz going fastest at the end. Though, on their home turf, Ferrari had a bit of a nightmare, with both Leclerc and Hamilton being dropped out by both Williams cars, an Alpine and both Aston Martins. Not the result both drivers and the famous Tifosi wanted. Also out was home-town hero Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Bortoleto. Now onto Q3, and it’s down to business. But if anybody was to remain cool and keep their head, it would be Oscar Piastri. He took pole with a time of 1:14:670, 0.034s faster than the flying Dutchman in P2. George Russell, the ever-present dark-horse of the year took 3rd, a tenth behind Verstappen and a tenth and a half ahead of title protagonist Lando Norris. 5th and 6th went to the pair of Spaniards on the grid, with Alonso pipping his compatriot by 0.001 second (ALO: 1:15:431, SAI: 1:15:432), followed by Williams teammate Alexander Albon, a further 0.041s behind. Lance Stroll made it a Double-Q3 appearance for the Aston Martin squad with their huge raft of upgrades for the weekend seemingly working well. 9th was Hadjar, maintaining his record as the only driver who has not exited Q1 in his career, be it a shorter one. And in 10th was Frenchman Pierre Gasly.

The Grand Prix.

With a simple one-stop strategy predicted, most of the grid started the race on the C5 Medium Tyre. Only 5 exceptions were made, with Hamilton, Antonelli, Hulkenberg, Bearman and Tsunoda on the hards. After Red Bull rebuilt his RB21 with a new chassis, the Japanese driver was given permission to begin the race based on his practice performace. Coincidentally, this race marks a milestone for two of our teams. It’s the 400th Grand Prix for Red Bull Racing, as well as 600th for Sauber, regardless of their various different names and looks over the years. And Verstappen was determined to put on a show. After a slightly slower start compared to Russell, Piastri and Norris around him, the Dutchman pulled out from Piastri’s slipstream and went later on the brakes, steamrolling into Tamburello. After braking later, he cruised around the outside of Piastri in a simply stunning move, taking the lead and never looking back. The status-quo remained for the first few laps as drivers found their feet. Verstappen began eeking his advantage out slowly, a few tenths here and there, being 1.4s ahead of Piastri on Lap 3. Leclerc was fighting hard to make up some positions, forcing Gasly into a wide moment on the exit of Pirratella.

But it wasn’t long before drivers began to complain about the medium tyre falling off. Leclerc pitted on lap 11, going for a long run on the hard compound. Though it didn’t seem to be stopping Verstappen, with the Dutchman pulling away lap-by-lap from the pair of Mclarens behind. Russell was also told to pit, with the Briton struggling on his medium tyres. But when seeing laptimes, it appeared the tyres were going through something like a graining phase. The drivers had to go through this phase before the laptimes began to fall again. Verstappen and Norris went longer on their mediums with the pace not being bad on 20-odd lap old tyres, but Piastri was struggling too much and boxed for an early undercut onto the hard compound on lap 13. Mclaren’s pitcrew had a rough day with a few slow stops. First was Piastri with a 3.6, then Norris with a 4.1. But lap 29 and it was Ocon who pulled to the side of the road with a poorly-sounding Ferrari Power Unit in the back of his Haas car. This brought out the VSC, which was perfect for Verstappen, who was just coming out of the Variante Alta Chicane. Verstappen pounced on his opportunity and took 4 new hards, as did Albon behind. Albon was having a storming race in his Williams, running in a solid P4 position. Both Albon and Norris were VERY close on pit-out, but Norris regained P3 from the Thai.

It was after this VSC that both Ferraris began coming good and making inroads on the leaders. Lap 34 and Hamilton got by Antonelli and set his sights on those ahead, with HAM in P5 and LEC in P7. But what for Aston Martin and all the upgrades they brought to the track this weekend? Well after an impressive qualifying session, both Astons seemed to drop off a cliff in the later stages of the race. On Lap 42, it was Verstappen from Norris by 18.2 seconds, then Piastri a further 12.9 behind. Albon was 4th only a handful of seconds behind the Mclaren in the rivitalised Williams, them both Ferraris charging him down. But that wasn’t it.

It was heartbreak for hometown hero Antonelli who pulled his Mercedes over at T8, between Tosa and Pirratella, bringing out the full safety car and closing the pack up. Verstappen boxes again for a new hard with a 2.1 second stop, Norris on a scrubbed takes 4.4. Piastri stays out however, as the Aussie had no other tyres he could use till the end. Neither did Leclerc, who protested on the radio. It took a while for the incident to be cleared and Bearman, as the only lapped car, overtook the safety car on lap 52, which brought it in on lap 53. Verstappen weaved left and right as he controlled the pace of the restart. And what a restart it was. The Dutchman launched away from Piastri and his much more worn, 20 lap old hards. And it was time to cruise to the finish for Verstappen.

Hamilton got by Russell to make it 2 Ferrari’s in the top 6, with Leclerc ahead of Albon in 4th. But as the Williams was shaping a move on the outside of turn 1, Leclerc slammed the door shut and forced Albon to take to the gravel, which seemed almost like an orchestrated move by the Scuderia as teammate Hamilton soared through for 4th. Leclerc was noted for this incident, however on the final lap, after Hamilton had pulled away, he let Albon through as to avoid a penalty. Poor strategy from the Scuderia is my belief.

At the chequered flag, it was victory for Verstappen, only his second of the season, but he reminded fans, drivers and pundits everywhere that he’s not down and out of this championship yet. Norris was 6 seconds behind in 2nd, with Piastri completing the podium, a further 6.8 behind his teammate. Hamilton took P4 in his best Grand Prix Finish for the Scuderia, a disappointed Albon in fifth, and a extremely frustrated Leclerc in 6th. A poor race from Russell brought the Briton home in seventh, followed by Sainz, who made it another double-points-finish for the Grove-based outfit. Hadjar finished 9th, taking some points home for Toro Rosso, and Tsunoda recovered well from the pit-lane start to take the final points position.

All in all, a great race here in Imola, a very strategic one. The projected strategy was a one-stop, MED-HARD, but the incidents meant that wasn’t the fastest. And it was Red Bull and Verstappen that reigned supreme. And that’s always a great way to kick-off a triple header. Could a hat-trick of victories be on the cards for Franz Hermann and his Red Bull RB21? Only time will tell. As things stand however, Piastri maintains his championship lead over Norris by 13 points, with Verstappen a further 9 points adrift. But with 7 races down and 17 to go, it’s not over till it’s over. In the Constructor’s, it’s still Mclaren that lead the way over Mercedes by 132 points. Though Red Bull Racing are only 16 behind Mercedes. Though Christian Horner has already confirmed that the team’s priority this year is the Drivers Championship, with plenty of focus already on 2026 and the new regulation changes.

That’s all I’ve got time for folks. Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy the week as we build up to the Crown Jewel of the Formula One Calendar in the Principality.