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Max wins in Imola! Red Bull Racing’s 400th Grand Prix ends in victory

MaxpoweredpastOscarPiastriinanelectrifyingstart totheEmilia-RomagnaGrandPrixandthendeliveredadominantdrivetothechequeredflagtotakehisfourthwininarowinImolaandtotakeabrilliantvictoryintheTeam’s400th GrandPrix.YukialsohadasuccessfulSunday,recoveringfromhisQ1crashandapitlanestarttoracethroughtoP10andadoublepointsfinishfortheBulls.

Red Bull Racing’s 400th Grand Prix ends in victory© Getty Images

When the lights went out at the start, Oscar made the best getaway, and it looked like the Australian would comfortably hold his advantage into the first corner. But as they went into Tamburello, Max hung it out around the outside of the papaya car and in a brilliant move squeezed past to seize the lead. 

Behind the leading pair, Mercedes’ George Russell held his starting third place ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

At the edge of the top 10, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was pressuring Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and when the Frenchman went wide under braking, Charles swept through to move into the points. Meanwhile, at the back of the field, Yuki, in his rebuilt RB21, made his start from the pit lane and began to make his way forward. 

At the front, Max quickly began to carve out a gap and by lap 10 the Dutchman was almost two seconds clear of Oscar behind. Behind them George was coming under heavy pressure from Lando, and on lap 11, the McLaren driver muscled his way past in the Villeneuve chicane. George then took the decision to shed his starting mediums and moved to the hard tyre. Charles, too, opted for a switch to hards, as did Williams’ Carlos Sainz who pitted from sixth. 

That seemed to push McLaren into action and on lap 14, Oscar went for the undercut. However, the Australian rejoined in P12 following a slow stop of 3.6 seconds. Max, though, chose to stay out and on lap 15 he had 10 seconds in hand over Lando who also held firm. 

Oscar, meanwhile, was hauling his way back through the field and on lap 21 the Australian was up to P8, just over 33s behind Max, who was looking more and more comfortable on his starting medium tyres. Lando pitted on lap 29, taking on hard tyres, and when Haas’ Esteban Ocon pulled over and halted his car at the side of the track just after Hosa, a VSC was announced by race control. The Team decided this was the best time to call Max in for his switch to hard tyres and to take full advantage of the time gained while pitting under these conditions.

Yuki was building momentum and starting to work his way through the grid© Getty Images

The VSC sparked a rush towards the pit lane, with Yuki shedding his starting hards for C5 mediums, and when the order shook out, Max led Lando by 20 seconds, with Williams’ Alex Albon in third place. Meanwhile, Oscar, who made a second stop under the caution, was in fourth ahead of VCARB’s Isack Hadjar and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. 

With good pace on the C5, Yuki was building momentum and starting to work his way through the grid, sweeping past Fernando, before setting about eating into the 1.9s gap to the 10th-placed Sauber of Nico Hülkenberg.

"A massive effort by the mechanics to get my car ready after yesterday, and I am glad that I was able to give back to the Team and thank them for the work they did, even if it was just one point. It’s small, but at least it is something for the Team.“ – Yuki Tsunoda

On lap 46, however, everything changed. Kimi suddenly slowed and, like Esteban, he ground to a halt just after Tosa. This time the Safety Car was deployed and with his lead suddenly erased, Max pitted for another set of hard tyres. Lando mirrored the move, but Oscar stayed out, rising to second place, ahead of his teammate. Charles also stayed out and took fourth ahead of Alex and George. 

After seven laps, the Safety Car peeled off track at the end of lap 53 and Max backed the field up to prepare for the restart. On entry to the second Rivazza, the Dutchman dropped the throttle, leaving his rivals in his wake and soon roared to a 1.5s lead. 

By this time, Yuki was on the march, and he had closed right up to Nico. The Sauber driver outbraked himself, went wide and car number 22 powered past on the inside to move into the points with eight laps remaining. 

On lap 58, after a handful of laps that allowed Max to build a four-second lead, the McLaren pair finally settled their intra-team battle with Lando, on fresher tyres, muscling his way past his teammate to take second place. 

Max, though, was long gone and after 63 laps the Dutchman crossed the line to win the Team’s 400th race and to take his fourth straight victory in Imola.

“To have the win here is fantastic. The start wasn’t the best but I can say turn two was good! Once we got into the lead I think we showed what we could do with the pace of the car and I could push quite nicely. The race was a lot more promising than what I expected, which was really good for us, and the car felt a lot more stable. We have clearly made a step forward with the setup of the car. I looked after my tyres quite well and it felt really good on both of the compounds. It took a while for the car to be cleared during the VSC but we were able to pit which was good. It was a bit of a reset and I could also pull away as Oscar had used tyres. I am really happy with this result and from the Team’s side we did everything well: good strategy, good pit stops and really calm communication everywhere, which is what you need in a successful race.” – Max Verstappen

With Lando and Oscar taking the remaining podium places, fourth place went to Lewis Hamilton. The Ferrari driver made the most of new tyres after the Safety Car and passed both Alex and team-mate Charles to grab 10 points. Alex took fifth, passing Leclerc, who had stuck with old tyres during the SC. The Monegasque driver was left with sixth place ahead of George, Carlos and Isack, while Yuki hung on to 10thplace to seal a well-earned double points finish for the team.