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Formula 1 Emilia Romagna GP

F1 Emilia Romagna GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race

Minute-by-minute updates for the F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18

Max Verstappen will start the race from pole position, having topped both qualifying and winning the sprint race ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Despite finishing second in the sprint race, Leclerc extended his early lead in the F1 drivers’ world championship to 40 points over nearest rival and Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.

The Emilia Romagna GP gets underway at 2.00pm BST (3.00pm local time).

Live Standings

Stopped

Summary

  • Leaderboard
    1. Verstappen, Red Bull
    2. Perez, Red Bull
    3. Norris, McLaren
    4. Russell, Mercedes
    5. Bottas, Alfa Romeo
    6. Leclerc, Ferrari
    7. Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
    8. Vettel, Aston Martin
    9. Magnussen, Haas
    10. Stroll, Aston Martin
  • Summary

    -Verstappen dominates wet-dry F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from pole, also claiming fastest lap, as Leclerc spins away third place
    -Red Bull finish first and second, with Perez following his team-mate home and Norris inheriting a podium after championship leader Leclerc's unforced error
    -After dropping to fourth with a poor start, Leclerc reclaimed third from Norris and was pressuring Perez when he spun over the kerb at Variante Alta and broke his front wing against the wall
    -The Ferrari driver fell to ninth after the ensuring pitstop before passing Magnussen, Vettel and Tsunoda in the closing laps to recover sixth place
    -Russell holds off Bottas for fourth, the Alfa driver delayed in pursuit by slow right-front tyre change
    -Sainz retires early for the second race in a row after first corner tangle with Ricciardo

Live Text

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That's all from us today - thanks for joining us, and we'll see you all for the Miami Grand Prix in two weeks' time! Enjoy the rest of your day.
Breaking news
Here's the report from a damp/dry Emilia Romagna GP: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-emilia-romagna-gp-verstappen-leads-red-bull-1-2-leclerc-spin-loses-podium/10179437/
Verstappen gets a rather hefty-looking Imola-shaped trophy to hold aloft. It's almost in the shape of a "bicep". What up?
The cooldown room is back; Verstappen and Perez review their races. "He takes so much kerb," Norris notes as Leclerc's incident is played on the screen behind.
Ocon cops a five-second penalty, bringing Alex Albon up to 11th, with Gasly and Hamilton classified 12th and 13th.
Yuki Tsunoda bags a rather tasty seventh, ahead of Vettel - who picks up Aston Martin's first points of the year - Magnussen and Stroll.
Russell holds off Bottas for fourth, with Leclerc rescuing sixth after his Variante Alta excursion.
Sergio Perez locks out a Red Bull 1-2, as Lando Norris completes the podium!
Checkered flag
And Max Verstappen wins the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at an absolute canter!
Leclerc duly gets by Tsunoda to move up to sixth place. He's limited the damage a little but it is still a costly spin for the Ferrari driver given the circumstances.
Verstappen reports a few drops of rain, but he's coming up to take the final lap of the race.

Leclerc is within a second behind Tsunoda at the start of the penultimate lap.

Bottas is within touching distance of Russell, but Russell is just keeping his car in the middle for Tamburello and warding off any assaults from Bottas.
Quote
"Forecasting light race on the last two laps at Turn 7," Russell is told, as he's still got Bottas bearing down on him.
Leclerc takes seventh place off Vettel on lap 60 using DRS into the first chicane. He's got three laps to catch Tsunoda who is 3.8s up the road.
"There might be a few spots of rain at Turn 7," Perez is told. The plot could be thickening...
Bottas can't make it happen at the start of lap 58, but gets the "let's get him" message over the radio.
Leclerc is lapping two seconds per lap faster than Vettel so he should grab that place back.
Bottas is now within DRS range of Russell - this is the battle for fourth. Can the Alfa Romeo driver make his way past his old team?
At the start of lap 56 Leclerc uses DRS to charge by Magnussen into eighth place. He's now five seconds behind Vettel in seventh with six laps to go.
Leclerc is back in the race in ninth place after his pitstop for a new front wing and right behind Magnussen.
"Is everything okay on data?" Leclerc asks. "All okay, you can push," comes the reply.
Norris inherits third place, as Bottas is continuing to close in behind Russell and now sits within 1.5s of the Mercedes!
That's new softs and a new front wing for Leclerc, and he comes out behind Tsunoda and Vettel! Disaster!
Tsunoda, gaining a place from Leclerc when he is in the pits, also gets by Vettel with the aid of DRS to move up to sixth place.
Pit stop
Leclerc spins off at the Variante Alfa! Norris has trickled past Leclerc, and the Ferrari driver will have to come in again!
Leclerc has a run on Perez with DRS at the start of lap 53, but the Ferrari driver doesn't quite have the pace to close in.
The pitstop show has added some late intrigue into this race but further back it is as you were, with Hamilton still stuck right behind Gasly.
Stopwatch
It's a 1m19.206s for Leclerc, who claims the fastest lap for the time being. "I think we should have gone for mediums," Leclerc says.
Pit stop
Meanwhile, Leclerc streaks past Norris at the start of lap 51, putting him back behind Perez. Verstappen also pits for the red-walled tyre.
Pit stop
Red Bull responds, as Perez calls into the pits! Probably a sensible call, as he takes the softs too.
Pit stop
Leclerc comes in for a pit stop! Soft tyres for the Ferrari driver, losing a place to Lando Norris, as he tries to get his tyres warmed up.
Bottas is now within four seconds of Russell now, and is continuing to find time over the Mercedes driver.
An overtake! We almost forgot what one of those looks like! Tsunoda, with DRS, drives around the outside of Magnussen on the main straight to take eighth place.
Bottas is slowly chipping away at Russell's P5, and is nearly within 5s of the Mercedes. Norris is keeping the gap over Russell - around 8s - relatively static.
Hamilton is doing everything he can for a way past Gasly but the French driver is holding firm. On consecutive laps Hamilton pulls to the outside of Gasly at Tamburello but can't close the ground enough to make the move stick.
A metal ring the size of an apple has popped off Latifi's Williams and landed on the track and on the racing line. Latifi is still running without trouble but that could some debris trouble if anyone runs over it.
Even with DRS enabled this race is rather drifting by over the middle third with all the gaps fairly stable across the running order.

By: autosport.com

Published: