From Australia the F1 circus popped into Europe for round 4. Imola, Italy was to host the first Sprint weekend of the season. In front of the passionate Tifosi it felt more than appropriate, that Carlos Sainz's 2-year contract extension with Ferrari was announced in the build-up to this weekend.
After morning's wet free practice session the track was still damp, when the qualifying got underway. The Italian spring didn't show its best side, as there were only 12 degrees Celsius. The qualifying session, which was to last an hour, stretched into an hour and 45 minutes in the end. Altogether there were five red flags in the qualifying, the first of which occured already in Q1. It was caused by Williams' Albon, whose right-side rear brakes got overheated and caught fire, which led into an exploding puncture.
In Q2 everyone rushed out as soon as the light turned green, as there was rain expected shortly. Unfortunately the second red flag was caused by Ferrari's Sainz, who ended up in the wall, having lost control of his SF75. Drizzle started during the suspension, and when the light turned green at the pit exit, everyone stayed in their pit garages. The changed conditions meant a dramatic result; both Mercedes drivers were out of the final session for the first time in 107 races!
No driver had been able to set a lap time in Q3, when Magnussen span his Haas on the gravel. However, the Dane made a genius saviour move, giving a little gas at the end of the spin to make sure his car didn't get stuck on the gravel. Magnussen managed to nurture his Haas back into the pits, so the red flag was out for a few minutes only. The rain stopped during the suspension, and as the session resumed, everyone came out on the intermediate Pirellis. Ferrari ace Leclerc made a staggering banker lap, leaving Verstappen two hundredths of a second shy of his benchmark. Verstappen had started his second flyer, and in the middle sector the flying Dutchman was 1.1 seconds ahead of Charles' time. Then came the fourth red flag of the session; Bottas' Alfa Romeo had come to a halt on the track in sector three. Verstappen had to lift his foot off the throttle due to the yellow flags, but still he made it on the top by 0.7s! The rain intensified again during the red flag, but everyone came out for the last three minutes. However, the fifth red flag came, when there were only 38 seconds left in the clock! McLaren's Norris lost control of his car after hitting the painted area over the kerb and the spin caused his orange McLaren end up stuck in the gravel. Verstappen claimed his first pole position of the season, which meant second second place for home hero Leclerc. In spite of his spin Norris made it third on the grid with Haas' Magnussen a surprise 4th. Alonso qualified 5th for Alpine, Ricciardo 6th for McLaren and Perez 7th for Red Bull. Alfa Romeo's Bottas ended up 8th and Vettel made his first appearance in the top ten this season by qualifying 9th for Aston Martin. Sainz was left 10th due to the mistake of his own.
Conditions were dry, as the first Sprint of the season was kicked off. Haas' Magnussen in P4 was the only driver in the top ten to start to the Sprint on the medium compound, as the soft rubber was the majority's choice. Pole-setter Verstappen' acceleration at the start wasn't ideal, and Leclerc managed to steal the lead. Norris maintained his third place, and Magnussen defended his 4th place successfully in spite of his tyre choice. Perez in the sister Red Bull took a rocket start, gaining two positions and jumping 5th. At the back AlphaTauri's Gasly and Alfa Romeo's Zhou collided, which ended the race for the Chinese rookie. Gasly got a damaged front right rim, so the Frenchman had to pit for a new nose cone and new tires. Safety car came out on the opening lap already.
Home hero Charles managed to hold on to his lead at the restart. Teammate Carlos, who had made a costly mistake in Friday's qualifying, was now making up for his error. He overtook his countryman Alonso, moving up to 7th. Meanwhile, Perez was also making an impressive job at the wheel of his RB18. He attacked Magnussen determinedly, claiming P4. Only a few laps later, Perez made a move on Norris, robbing the young Briton of the third place.
While on lap 13 the gap between race leader Charles and Verstappen had been solid 1.5 seconds, by lap 17 Max had made it at the very tail of the Monegasque. There were three laps to go, and the battle was on fire. On the second last lap Max saw his chance and made a self-confident move by diving into the outside of Charles - and took the lead! Verstappen had managed especially the front tyres better than his rival. As the winner of the Sprint the Dutchman took 8 points under his belt, whilst Charles took 7 as the runner-up. Perez finished third with 6 points, and Carlos made it stunning 4th in the end, having entertained the Tifosi with his staggering overtaking show. The McLaren duo Norris and Ricciardo finished 5th and 6th respectively, bringing 7 valuable points for McLaren. Bottas scored two points for Alfa Romeo, and Magnussen brought the last point for Haas. Both Mercedes drivers were left out of points, with Russell 11th and Hamilton 14th!
There had been heavy rain at Imola in the race morning, but the skies had begun to clear half an hour before the lights-out. On warm-up laps there was still spray coming from the back of the cars, which meant intermediate Pirellis at the start. The start proved quite the opposite, that the Tifosi would have hoped for. Pole-setter Verstappen controlled his nerves perfectly and didn't let his lead slip through his fingers this time. Home hero Leclerc, on the other hand, lost positions to both Perez and Norris, dropping from P2 down to P4. Sainz in the sister Ferrari got in trouble with McLaren's Ricciardo in the first corners. The Australian slided into Sainz's SF75, which made the Spaniard spin and get stuck on the gravel. What a disappointment for the home crowd! Ricciardo was able to continue, but he had to make an extra pit stop, and the Australian's race was ruined. Similarly to Saturday's Sprint, safety car was deployed on the opening lap already.
The restart saw no change in the pecking order of the top three. A little later, on lap 8, the Italian crowd cheered loudly, as Leclerc attacked Norris, moving up to 3rd. At this point three seconds separated the Red Bull duo in favor of Verstappen. Behind the top three, Mercedes' Russell had made a stunning job. He had jumped five positions at the very start, and overtaking Haas' Magnussen on lap 13 made the young Briton 5th already.
The first driver to switch to the slicks was McLaren's Ricciardo. On lap 19 Perez opened the game for the top drivers, opting for medium Pirellis as well. Also race leader Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris followed Ricciardo' example and opted for a similar tyre choice. After his pit stop Charles rejoined the track just barely ahead of Perez, but the Mexican managed to overtake Charles, whose tyres were still cold. Red Bull were back in the double lead.
It was not until on lap 34, that DRS was enabled. Some eight laps later there was a bizarre moment, when race leader Verstappen lapped his last year's rival Hamilton, who was stuck in P14. Things can definitely change fast and dramatically in F1.
Leclerc opened the second pit stop roulette on lap 50. The Monegasque switched to the soft compound, and Red Bull decided to play it safe and called both Perez and Verstappen in for softs as well. Verstappen had a firm and controlled lead, as after the second pit stop the gap to his teammate Perez was still 15 seconds.
Lap 54 saw a dramatic and unpredictable turn in the race. Leclerc in P3 was pushing on the limit to chase down Perez, ending up pushing too hard. Hitting the wet kerb, Charles span, and his SF75 gently touched the tyre wall. He was able to continue, but he had to pit for a new nose, which cost him too much time. When rejoining the track, disappointed Charles was now in P9. This mistake he couldn't have afford.
Red Bull had a solid double lead, Norris was now third, Russell fourth and Bottas fifth. After the first pit stops the gap between the two had been 12 seconds, but with ten laps to go, the Finn had made it at the tail of Russell. Bottas was hungry to fight for P4 with the driver, who had replaced him at Mercedes for this season. The two had an intense battle till the end, but in spite of Bottas' all efforts to find a way through, Russell managed to maintain his fourth place at the chequered flag.
After a problem-filled start to the season, Red Bull were rewarded with the maximum points today. It was a grand slam for victorious and dominant Verstappen: pole position, Sprint win, race win and the fastest lap of the race. Max was also voted as the Driver of the Day. Perez drove a brilliant race as well, bringing 1-2 for the team. The Red Team have work to do in spite of the perfect first three races. Carlos' DNF was not his fault, but Charles pushed too hard and made a mistake. Mistakes hurt, and Charles is a driver, who is very harsh on himself, but he will learn from this and bounce back in Miami.
Red Bull decreased the gap to Ferrari massively in the constructors' standings. The energy drink team are now only 11 points shy of the Red Team. Before Imola Charles had a 40-point lead in the drivers' standings, but due to his costly mistake today, the gap has shrunken into 27 points. By taking the maximum points at Imola, Verstappen has jumped from P5 to P2 in the standings. Perez is now third, five points down on his teammate. Carlos has dropped down to P5, having only 38 points to his teammate's 86.
However, a whole new challenge awaits in Miami, which will host its inaugural GP weekend in a fortnight. Meanwhile, there's work to do for the Red Team. Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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