Max Verstappen strikes back | Luxembourg word

Max Verstappen hit back in the style of a champion and broke the dominance of McLaren. The four-time Formula 1 world champion triumphed thanks to a brilliant start at the Grand Prix in Imola and at the same time ended the successful series of Oscar Piatri. The Australian World Cup leader had won the past three races, now he was third behind Verstappen and his English teammate Lando Norris.

« Brilliant weekend, that was fantastic of us, » sparked Verstappen after the finish line in the 400th race of his Red Bull team-and after his fourth IMOLA victory in series: « It was a very strong Saturday and a very strong Sunday. Highly deserved! » In the winner’s interview, he spoke of a “great progress” of his team in the duel with McLaren. Piatri said: « It wasn’t the best Sunday. But congratulations to Max and Red Bull, they just had the pace today. »

Verstappen showed its extra class in bright sunshine. It remains that only the Dutch in his Red Bull can challenge the superior McLaren and sometimes beat it. In the World Cup, it is now only 22 points behind Piatri and nine behind Norris.

For Ferrari, the race after the disastrous qualifying was conciliatory. Record world champion Lewis Hamilton (GB) was fourth, Charles Leclerc (Mon) drove to sixth in the second Ferrari. Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, born in nearby Bologna, drove a good race for a long time, but was eliminated because of a technical defect.

McLaren puts pressure with early pit stop

Verstappen laid the foundation for his second win of the season with a sensational start. On the first few meters it seemed as if the Dutch was losing its second place to the Englishman George Russell (Mercedes), but at the beginning of the first curve, Verstappen braked later than the entire competition and used the swing to get past Piatri on the outside.

The Australian was apparently surprised – and had to let it tear off. Verstappen quickly managed to drive out a cushion of about two seconds and not let Piatri come to the DRS window. Russell stopped the pursuers behind it. Only in the eleventh round Norris found a way past Russell, but his gap to the top was almost ten seconds.

McLaren then tried to build pressure on Verstappen with an early pit stop from Piatri. However, the plan did not work: Piatri found himself in traffic and was caught up in numerous duels, where he lost a lot of time. In addition, Verstappen at the top was able to hold up the pace despite the tire wear and did not stop.

Verstappen had hoped for a lucky race – and was heard. Because the Frenchman Esteban Ocon’s Haas rolled out, the race management called out the virtual safety car. Verstappen used this to get into the box – and did not lose time to the competition. For Piatri, on the other hand, it was a disaster, his gap suddenly was 32 seconds, and he was only fourth in the « adjusted » state after the pit stops.

Piatri fought himself past Alexander Albon (Tha/Williams), then it caused an excitement to be made again by Antonelli. The safety car got on the track, Verstappen reacted quickly and got new tires. He knew that he now had to defend himself with the fast -paced McLaren in the neck.

However, it took a while for the field to be sent again on the journey. Only at the end of the 53rd of 63 rounds did the safety car come back into the box, and the race was released again.