Max Verstappen has taken his second race win of the 2022 Formula 1 season as he dominated the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
The Dutchman led every lap of the race, and crossed the line just over 16 seconds in front of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
Ferrari was on course for third place with Charles Leclerc, however on lap 53 while chasing Perez, the Monegasque driver spun and was forced to return to the pits for a new front wing.
Leclerc ended the race in sixth place, having made up a handful of positions in the final number of laps.
It was another setback for Ferrari after Carlos Sainz retired on the opening lap of the grand prix following contact with Daniel Ricciardo.
While Ricciardo was the last of the classified runners, his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris benefitted from Leclerc’s mistake and took his sixth career podium in third place.
The result for Red Bull marked its second 1-2 finish of the turbo-hybrid era, with its previous coming at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2016.
Russell fends off Bottas for fourth
In the final laps of the grand prix, Mercedes’ George Russell and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas scrapped for fourth place on the road.
12 months ago, the duo came together in a heavy collision at Imola while fighting for position.
However on this occasion, they kept it clean, with Bottas being forced to settle for fifth on the road, crossing the line marginally down on the Briton.
Although Russell collected a strong number of points for Mercedes, his team-mate Lewis Hamilton endured a nightmare race.
The seven-time World Champion was stuck down deep in the pack, and couldn’t pass Pierre Gasly for 13th place, having watched the rear of the AlphaTauri for a majority of the race.
Aston Martin picks up first points
All 10 teams have now scored points in the 2022 championship, as Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll crossed the line in eighth and 10th respectively for Aston Martin.
Stuck between the two team-mates was Kevin Magnussen in ninth, who returned to the points after a disappointing showing in Australia two weeks ago.
Yuki Tsunoda was a strong seventh for AlphaTauri, having been passed by a recovering Leclerc late on in the race – however it stands as the team’s best result so far this season.
Fernando Alonso retired from the race early on after suffering damage to his bodywork following contact from an out of control Mick Schumacher on the opening lap.
F1 will return in two weeks’ time, for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.
[motorsport_result id=’84443′]
LOL Shamilton P13, Russell P4.
Did anyone else catch that blowhard Crofty trying to make excuses for Lulu the Backmarker, and going berserk every time he made a move around 15th position as if he were fighting for the lead? And little to no mention of how his teammate — in the same car — was running 4th-5th the entire time with seemingly no problems? Just imagine if Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso etc were that far behind their teammates all weekend, we would have never heard the end of how they are “losing their form”.
Lewis lives rent free in your heads.