Verstappen fends off late attack from Norris to win Imola

Leclerc looked set to make a move on Norris but made a mistake when he moved within DRS range. The Ferrari driver cut across the chicane and lost time to Norris in the battle for the second. Instead of looking behind, Norris pushed harder and started to chase Verstappen at a rapid rate. But he couldn't sustain the gains. 

Mercedes had a relatively quiet race in the lower scoring positions but Toto Wolff will be pleased with the fact both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were able to keep Sergio Perez in the rearview mirror. Perez ended the race in 8th place. Piastri and Sainz finished fourth and fifth respectively. Stroll and Tsunoda rounded out the points.

Verstappen might've won his fifth race of the 2024 season, but this event provided further evidence that both McLaren and Ferrari are closing the gap significantly with their recent upgrades. The event also demonstrated Verstappen's strengths as a driver with the car not being on top form all weekend.

What happened in the Imola Grand Prix?

Verstappen qualified on pole position with the help of tow in Q3. Despite maintaining his 100% pole streak in the 2024 season, it was a somewhat surprising result after the team endured some woes on Friday and teammate Sergio Perez failed to escape Q2. Oscar Piastri qualified on the front row but dropped back to P5 due to a grid penalty. This promoted Lando Norris to P2, with Leclerc leading the Ferrari drivers in P3 and P4. The top five stayed in the same order after the first lap as all drivers got through cleanly. Perez made one place on the hard set of tyres.

By lap five, Verstappen had opened up a 1.8 second gap to Norris. Leclerc and Sainz had also lost DRS at this point. The first signs of McLaren's strong race pace started to show on lap nine when Piastri closed the gap to Sainz. The move wasn't completed but he stayed within DRS range.

Pit stops

On lap 23, Norris attempted an undercut by pitting for hard tyres first. McLaren had a 2.4-second stop and failed to make it out of the pits ahead of Perez, slowing his progress on the fresh tyres. Norris made a move on Perez down the home straight on the following lap. Red Bull reacted on lap 25 by pitting the race leader, who came back out ahead of Norris by around four seconds. Leclerc stayed out for one more lap and dropped back behind Norris. The two remaining front-runners, Sainz and Hamilton, pitted on lap 28, allowing Verstappen to regain the lead.

Leclerc started to apply pressure on Norris and moved within DRS range on lap 43. The battle for second heated up, with some intense radio messages between Norris and his engineer. Leclerc stayed within DRS range for several laps but Norris upped the pace to maintain the distance to avoid the overtake. The man from Monaco cut across the grass at the chincane, providing Norris with some breathing room on lap 48. 

Norris then started to cut down the gap to race-leader Verstappen. His lap 54 was one second faster than Verstappen's lap and the gap was down to 2.5 seconds. Verstappen reacted, but Norris got within one second on the last lap.