Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 as Ferrari struggle at Imola

Max Verstappen showed Ferrari up in front of their adoring home fans, thumping the Scuderia to win the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

Verstappen led from start to finish, cruising home ahead of teammate Sergio Perez to give Red Bull their first 1-2 finish since 2016.

For Verstappen, his win on Sunday caps off a perfect weekend that includes maximum points and a victory in the qualifying sprint race.

“It’s always tough to achieve something like that,” Verstappen said.

“We were on it. You never know with the weather how competitive you are going to be, but I think as a team we did everything well and this one-two is very deserved.”

Ferrari’s sole hopes of a win were in the hands of Charles Leclerc after Carlos Sainz spun off the track on lap one.

But Leclerc wouldn’t fare much better, spinning while hunting down Perez.

He finished sixth.

“I was too greedy and I paid the price for it and lost seven potential points.”

Leclerc’s spin opened the door for Lando Norris to snare the final podium position.

“I think today and this weekend, it wasn’t necessarily all about the car,” Norris said.

“I think a lot of it was the teamwork, the pit stop was amazing and just how we executed the weekend, which is what gave us this result.”

George Russell gave Mercedes something to celebrate, finishing fourth.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton continued to have a dismal weekend. The seven-time world champion was P13 at the chequered flag and outside the points-paying positions.

Mercedes head Toto Wolff apologized to Hamilton over the radio for the “undriveable” car that Hamilton was given.

Valtteri Bottas finished an impressive fifth, Yuki Tsunoda was the lead AlphaTauri in seventh, and Sebastian Vettel broke Aston Martin’s point-less duck with a P8 result.