VERSTAPPEN LEADS RED BULL 1-2 AT IMOLA

Max Verstappen has taken a comfortable win in the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, as Red Bull completed a 1-2 finish.

Sunday’s win closed out a perfect weekend for Verstappen, who won the Sprint Race, grand prix and set the fastest lap.

Sergio Perez was 16.527s off Verstappen in second, while McLaren’s Lando Norris capitalised on a late error from championship leader Charles Leclerc to complete the podium.

Leclerc was running in third looking to push his Red Bull rivals late in the race when he spun on lap 53, slowly sliding into the wall and damaging his front wing.

Forced into the pits with front wing damage, Leclerc watched the field fly by as he emerged back on track in ninth. The Ferrari driver was able to regain a couple of positions but was forced to settle for sixth.

Aside from Norris, Mercedes’ George Russell and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas also benefited from Leclerc’s mistake, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

The pair engaged in an entertaining battle late in the piece, Bottas failing to make it past his replacement at the Silver Arrows.

Yuki Tsunoda was seventh for AlphaTauri ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who scored his first top 10 finish of the season for Aston Martin.

Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10, Aston Martin ending with both its cars among the points.

Alexander Albon and Pierre Gasly finished just outside the top 10.

Lewis Hamilton was back in 13^th, unable to make up any ground over the course of the 63-lap affair.

Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu trailed him for Alpine and Alfa Romeo, respectively.

Nicholas Latifi and Mick Schumacher failed to make inroads in 16th and 17th.

Two key players were eliminated from contention on the opening lap. Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo came together with the former sent into a spin, coming to a halt in the gravel.

Sainz could not continue, rendering him a DNF for the second round in a row, while Ricciardo extracted himself from the gravel to complete the race at the rear of the field.

Their incident prompted a brief yellow flag period.

Fernando Alonso was also forced to retire after his Alpine machine sustained early damage. The veteran pulled into the pits on lap 7 after a section of his sidepod came lose and detached, failing to emerge thereafter. Alonso has now failed to finish a race twice this season.

The last notable incident came between Esteban Ocon and Hamilton in pit lane – the pair made contact as several cars simultaneously attempted to make a stop, Ocon dealt a 5s penalty for an unsafe release as a result.

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