RB16B clearly faster over one lap in Imola: 'Red Bull is significantly better'

Hamilton clear on Saturday

In the Weekend Debrief F1TV Ted Kravitz and Rob Smedley look back on the Grand Prix weekend in Imola. Smedley was impressed by the race of Verstappen, but the weekend didn't start so well for the Dutchman. First Max crashed out during the second free practice, and on Saturday he lost the pole due to some mistakes.

''The first mistake was at the first chicane. You can see at the entrance to the corner that the data is still the same, but at the exit, Verstappen has to take his foot off the gas a little bit because he came off the track. He lost a lot of time there. During the rest of the lap he gains it back, especially in the medium-speed corners. We saw that in Bahrain as well, where the Red Bull is significantly better,'' says the former race engineer.

Verstappen wins the race

The data shows that Verstappen is faster than Hamilton just before the last few corners but then loses the pole in the last two corners. ''Towards the end Hamilton wins again, and it looks like he was able to save his tyres longer for the last sector, so his car is better there.''

On Sunday, however, Verstappen came good with a win. ''Max's race on Sunday was impressive. He didn't do anything wrong at all. The same goes for Lewis Hamilton. After the red flag he drove impressively back to P2. Those two drivers are at their absolute peak'', Smedley concludes.