Max Verstappen clinched victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, narrowly edging out Lando Norris in one of the tightest finishes seen in Formula 1 in over two years.
19.05.2024. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 7, Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Imola, Italy, Race Day.
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Norris trailed Verstappen by a mere 0.725 seconds as the Dutch driver crossed the finish line, making it a thrilling conclusion to the race weekend. While Lewis Hamilton came close, finishing just 0.179 seconds behind Verstappen in Australia the previous year, that race ended under Safety Car conditions. The last time a race saw a closer green-flag finish was back in 2022, when Verstappen triumphed over Charles Leclerc in Jeddah by a razor-thin margin of 0.549 seconds.
Verstappen’s victory at Imola marked his third consecutive win at the circuit and the 59th win of his career, an achievement that matches the combined total of wins from the first five Formula 1 world champions: Giuseppe Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Mike Hawthorn, and Jack Brabham.
With 59 wins out of 192 starts, Verstappen’s winning rate now stands at an impressive 30.7%, surpassing Hamilton’s winning rate for the first time in his career. Hamilton, who hasn’t secured a win in over two years, has a winning rate of 30.4% from his 339 starts.
Verstappen’s dominance was further emphasized by his 10th consecutive front-row start, although he still has a long way to go to match Ayrton Senna’s record of 24 consecutive front-row starts spanning the 1988 and 1989 seasons.
Despite Red Bull’s win and both cars scoring points at Imola, McLaren outscored them with 30 points to Red Bull’s 29. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc secured third place, marking Ferrari’s first podium finish at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and their first at Imola since Michael Schumacher’s victory in 2006.
Carlos Sainz Jr. made history for Ferrari by becoming the first Ferrari driver to lead a lap of a Grand Prix at Imola since Schumacher’s triumph in the same race.
Mercedes celebrated their 300th Grand Prix as a constructor, but their performance at Imola left much to be desired. However, George Russell managed to clinch the seventh fastest lap of his career, matching Jacques Laffite’s tally.
Williams endured another disappointing race, failing to score points for the 10th consecutive race. Meanwhile, Sauber’s woes continued as they extended their point-less streak to 12 races, including their previous season when they competed as Alfa Romeo.
In Formula 2, Oliver Bearman mirrored his Formula 1 points tally by scoring six points for Ferrari on his debut at Jeddah. However, his return to Haas at Imola saw him miss out on adding to his points tally after encountering issues during the feature race.
