Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who started at the head of the Emilia-Romagna GP, won with a short lead over Lando Norris (McLaren). Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari completes the podium. A race for a long time without emotion, except at the end of the race, where the British driver made an impressive close encounter with the Dutchman’s RB20, but ultimately failed by 7 tenths.
Around ten laps, making us forget the first 53 nagging loops, of a scenario without soul until then. Then, suddenly, we saw Lando Norris nibble tenths of a second by the handful, quickly going from 6 to 1 second behind the Dutchman, penalized by a lack of grip on his hard tires at the end of their life.
“I tried not to make any mistakes given the state of my tires. They didn’t work at all. I slipped a lot. » After a pause, Norris resumed his march forward, finally, at the dawn of the final lap, breaking the second barrier to benefit from the DRS. But too late on a serpentine track to do better than stay 7 tenths behind the leader of the World Championship.
The ambitious McLarens
“He will probably have missed two laps,” said the McLaren driver before pinching himself at the idea of being “frustrated to finish second. We are now aiming for victory in every race. It’s funny to say that. » But above all, it does enormous good for F1.
Seeing Max Verstappen under pressure, measuring his calm, his ability not to make a mistake and enjoying the speed and greed of Lando Norris promises us less soporific Sundays. As long as the Ferraris find a little magic in qualifying, the grid would offer us a battle with five drivers, Sergio Perez (8th), in distress with his Red Bull not seeming capable of fighting at the level of the leaders of the peloton. Except, perhaps, next weekend in Monaco, a city circuit, which generally enhances the talent of the Mexican who likes to lick the walls and flirt with the safety rails.
If the battle was tough for victory at the end of the race, Charles Leclerc was a distant witness to the battle of the leaders with a third place 7”191 behind the Dutchman. Leclerc is ahead of Oscar Piastri (4th) and Carlos Sainz (5th).
Hamilton 6th, the Alpine out of the points
Far behind, the Mercedes are navigating in between. Incapable of joining the fight at the front and having a margin ahead of the other teams in the soft underbelly, where Aston Martin will be bogged down this weekend. A tasteless sixth place for Lewis Hamilton who is ahead of George Russell who, by putting on medium tires late, won the bonus point for the best lap.
As for the Alpine, they were never in a position to play for points, finishing in 14th and 16th places, with Esteban Ocon once again better classified than Pierre Gasly, who was on an offbeat strategy with two tire changes, against only one for the majority of other drivers.
Once again, the coin fell on the wrong side for the Rouennais from Alpine, more often the victim than in his turn of some choices or chances of racing, penalizing him more than the other Norman who will also have spent more laps at to defend than to fight to move up the rankings. Miami, with Ocon’s 10th place point, is already far away.
Monaco, a circuit where the driving and the bravery are as much as the car and its engine, will offer a great opportunity for the two French people, in need of positive publicity, to show themselves.
