Max Verstappen Wins The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2021

Max Masters Incident-Packed Imola With First Win Of 2021!

The Dutchman claims an 11th Formula One win of his career.

Max mastered wet conditions, safety cars and red flags to take a sensational first victory of 2021 at the end of an incident-packed Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

It was an even more eventful day for Sergio, however, and after suffering steering problems and a 10-second time penalty for overtaking under the safety car, the Mexican later had a spin that dropped him back and which ultimately led to a P12 finish.

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2021: Race

Celebrating Win Number 11

Ready To Push The Pedal

Up Close With You Imola Winner

Smiles For Miles For Max

Getting Ready To Race

Putting On Some Fresh Rubber

Max Drives Off Into The Distance

Max Takes The Lead Into Tamburello

Max Leads At The Restart

Checo Leads The Ferrari On Softs

A Busy Pit Lane During The Red Flag

Boys Cheers Max Across The Line

Cheering On Max Into Turn One

Max Leads The Charge In Imola

In the run-up to the race start, Imola was hit by heavy downpours but despite treacherous conditions, Max made a superb start from P3 on the grid to pass both Checo and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton in the first chicane, with the Mercedes driver forced wide as Max muscled his way past. As Hamilton recovered Sergio also tried to get past, but had to back off and in doing so the Mexican lost a place to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

As the field swept up the hill from Tosa and into the second sector, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi went off track on the entry to Piratella and as he re-joined, he collided with Haas’ Nikita Mazepin and was pitched into the wall. The safety car was swiftly deployed.

When racing resumed at the end of lap six, Max controlled the restart well to keep Hamilton at bay, while Leclerc held P4 from Checo. However, under the safety car the Mexican had suffered a spin and after going off track he illegally overtook cars ahead of him to regain the fourth place behind Leclerc. It was at this point that Sergio’s race began to unravel.

Following the restart, he began to experience steering problems and running up to two seconds per lap slower than Leclerc he began to slip and by lap 11 he was over nine seconds adrift of the Ferrari. And then his afternoon grew more complicated when he was handed a 10-second time penalty for his mistakes under the safety car.

At the front, Max was regularly putting in fastest laps and by lap 16 he had built a five-second gap to Hamilton. Leclerc was now 15 seconds behind the lead Mercedes, with Checo a further eight seconds back.

Soon after the one-third mark, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel judged the conditions to be good enough for slick tyres and he became the first man to ditch wet weather tyres, with the German pitting for mediums. Initially, Vettel’s lap times remained static but as his slicks came up to temperature he began to set personal best times.

Passing The Pit Wall

That prompted the Team to bring Max in for a pit stop at the end of lap 27. The crew got the Dutchman fitted with a set of mediums in just 2.2 seconds and he re-joined behind Hamilton.

With slick tyres now the obvious choice, Mercedes pitted the world champion at the end of the following lap. The stop was slow at 4.0 seconds, however, and as he made his way to the pit exit Max powered past in the lead once again.

Checo made his pit stop at the end of the next tour. The Mexican not only served his 10s time penalty but also changed his steering wheel and he re-joined in P5, behind Leclerc and Norris.

After a brief period of incident-free racing, drama erupted when Hamilton lost control and went off track at Tosa as he tried to navigate his way past the back markers. He slid across the gravel and came to a halt just before the barriers. However, as he tried to get going again he hit the wall and damaged the front wing. The Mercedes driver re-joined eventually but it looked like his race was run. However, within moments he was granted a reprieve when Williams’ George Russell and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas were involved in a heavy accident.

Russell went to overtake the Finn but as Bottas defended, the Williams driver put a wheel on the grass on the right side. He slammed into the side of the Mercedes and both cars hit the barriers hard. The safety car was deployed but with debris strewn across the track at Tamburello the red flags were soon shown.

The race was suspended for some time as the track was cleared but at 16:25 local time the cars flowed out of pit lane to prepare for a rolling start. The track was still tricky, however, and Verstappen was almost caught by the conditions.

Max Gets Some Air On Track

The Dutchman lost control at Rivazza just as the SC was about to leave the track. He managed to regain control, however, and just held on to his lead at the restart despite pressure from Leclerc.

Lando Norris, who had moved to soft tyres during the suspension, then managed to get past Leclerc to steal P2. Checo, who had also taken on soft tyres, tried to muscle past Leclerc at the same time but he ran out of room as the cars went into the Tamburello chicane.

There was further woe for Sergio soon after when he spun at the exit of turn four and dropped back to P14. It would mark the end of Sergio running in the points and although he recovered to P12.

At the front, however, Max was in control. On medium tyres, he quickly stretched away from Norris and the chasing pack and then set about expertly managing his run to the chequered flag.

Picking Up Race Win Number 11

Hamilton, who took the rolling start in P9, put in a determined fight back in the final third of the race, but despite dragging himself back to P2 in the closing stages, he could make no impact on the yawning gap to Max and after 63 incident-packed laps, the Red Bull driver crossed the line 22 seconds ahead of the Briton to claim his first win of the year, the 11th of his career to date and the Team’s 65th victory overall.

Norris’ gamble on soft tyres for the re-start paid off handsomely too. Although he was unable to keep Hamilton at bay in the final laps, the McLaren driver nursed his fading tyres to the flag in P3 to take the second podium finish of his career.

Behind him Leclerc finished P4 with Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz in fifth. P6 went to Daniel Ricciardo in the second McLaren, while Lance Stroll finished in seventh for Aston Martin ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

What

Was

Said

Max

“I am of course very happy with this win for everyone in the Team and Honda. I think the key was of course the start as we had a great launch. I surprised myself as it was always hard to get off the line in the wet last year but we worked hard to try and improve that and it worked.

We won because we made the right calls with tyres at the right time and the Team managed everything well in these conditions.

"The conditions were challenging out there, especially in the beginning and it was very hard to stay on track but we stayed out of trouble. I wouldn’t call it a dominant performance as Lewis was following me quite well and for him to come back to second after his incident means they have a lot of pace in that car. We won because we made the right calls with tyres at the right time and the Team managed everything well in these conditions. With the tyres degrading, choosing the right moment to go onto slicks wasn’t easy but we got it right. I had a little moment at the re-start trying to warm up the tyres with some throttle but luckily we didn’t spin.

We still have to work hard to improve because it’s very close, but for now I’m very happy with the result.

"We still have to work hard to improve because it’s very close, but for now I’m very happy with the result. I’m looking forward to Portimão because it’s an amazing track and then we go to a track we all know well in Barcelona. We’ll see what we can do but so far, it’s been a good start to the year.”

Checo

“The conditions out there were really difficult today and I made quite a few mistakes that were very costly. I struggled to retain any temperature in the tyres, so I lost it under the safety car and I got a 10 second penalty.

"It is of course important that I get used to the car and that I learn these lessons, but I messed up, I’m very disappointed in myself and really sorry to the Team. I think at the re-start the podium was ours and the pace of the car was good today, we should have finished one and two on the podium. Let’s focus on the next race now, we will work really hard as a Team and come back stronger.”

Christian

Horner

“It is fantastic for us to get the victory here today, particularly after losing such a close race in Bahrain. Max drove impeccably all afternoon with no mistakes and the Team made some perfectly timed pit stop calls, making this a thoroughly deserved victory and an important one for us.

I think they maybe had a quicker car than us today but it’s great to get that first victory of the season under our belts.

"Max was pumped up for the race, with a great start giving him momentum down into Turn 1 where we saw two tough drivers pushing to the limit for track position which is what everyone wants to see. Lewis was still very quick today which could be seen particularly towards the end of the race when they seemed to have very low tyre degradation. I think they maybe had a quicker car than us today but it’s great to get that first victory of the season under our belts.

"It was a real shame for Sergio after such a brilliant day yesterday and nothing went his way which is frustrating for him, but he’s becoming more and more comfortable with the car and you can guarantee that he will come back strong. Now we need to build on this momentum for the remainder of the season and we are going to have to go some way to keep Mercedes under pressure.”

Team Celebration's After The Win