The one that was turning out to be the most soporific race seen so far, at least at the beginning of the Championship, it has succeeded in awakening the “dormant fans” during the last fifteen laps. When the Emilia Romagna GP now seemed to be clearly in the hands of Max Verstappen, Lando Norris tried with all his strength to snatch victory from his friend and rival.
A bit like what happened in Miami, the winner’s name was also named in Imola in doubt until the last corner. If Red Bull is still the car to beat and McLaren confirmed the steps forward seen during the race in Florida, the same cannot be said of Ferrari. The Prancing Horse has decided to just wait for the home match of Imola to put on track a substantial package of updates which, despite the small improvements, did not lead to the desired results. Although Leclerc managed to climb to the lowest step of the podium to the delight of the numerous Ferrari fans present in Imola.
McLaren
After returning to victory in Miami, McLaren takes home in Imola another podium. And it convinces. Norris finished the Emilia Romagna GP in second place, behind the race winner, Max Verstappen. If the English rider is in one exceptional state of formthe podium obtained in Imola confirms the validity of the updates seen on the MCL38 in Florida.
And exactly as happened for both Red Bull and Ferrari, also in McLaren the real difference is made by a driver. In this case Norris. The 24-year-old didn’t give up an inch. In the last fifteen laps Norris tried until the last corner in an attempt to lead Verstappen to error to snatch victory from him. In any case, McLaren shows a clear improvement, especially in terms of speed and, with a better start, perhaps Norris could perhaps have grabbed another success.
Red Bull
It’s probably wrong to give judgments within the space of a race. And we won’t. But, at least on the Imola track, Red Bull has worked harder than usual. We should understand if the actual potential of the RB20 is what we see in the hands of Max Verstappen or in those of Perez. The Mexican was never in the game at Imola. AND if only today was the problem.
Disastrous in qualifying, Perez starts the race on the harder tyre, a solution that doesn’t turn out to be the best. He can’t get close to the leaders even by praying, the team (probably hoping for a Safety Car to come in) keeps him out more than necessary before making the stop. But this cannot be an excuse considering that he drives a Red Bull.
The difference is made by Max Verstappen who, perhaps for the first in the last two years, really sweats out the victory in the Emilia Romagna GP. The Dutchman at the start he can’t escape as usual and never manages to put an advantage of more than 8 seconds between himself and his pursuers. With Norris’s monstrous recovery in the final laps, if only Lando had had one more lap at his disposal, we are sure that Max he wouldn’t have laughed so much.
Ferrari
Despite third place which allowed Leclerc to climb to the lowest step of the podium, Ferrari did cannot be satisfied after the Emilia Romagna GP weekend. The objective of the Prancing Horse in Imola was to win again also thanks to substantial update package debut the SF-24 on its home track. An upgrade which, unfortunately for the Red, did not bring the desired results. After an excellent Friday, the Red team began to struggle.
Ferrari improved slightly but in Imola it confirmed itself as the third force in the World Cup. Taking a general look at what happened in the race, the Italian single-seater suffered especially in the first phase, with full tanks. Only towards the end of the race did Leclerc manage to get dangerously close to Norris in the hope of snatching second place from the McLaren driver, but without success. If the Monegasque, despite a thousand difficulties, tried (and hoped) until the end, Sainz’s match was truly a without infamy and without glory. He finishes the race exactly in the position from which he started and, if it hadn’t been for the overtaking on Perez, perhaps we wouldn’t even have realized that he was competing in the Emilia Romagna GP,
Mercedes
The best thing seen from Hamilton this weekend is definitely the welcome of the Ferrari fans which have already catapulted themselves to 2025. In Imola, Mercedes confirms itself as the fourth force in the World Championship. And, at least for the moment, without the possibility of getting close to their direct opponents. Yet for the English driver this is certainly one of the best races of the year. After a good start to the race where he manages to overtake Tsunoda and the nice overtake on Perez, very bad with Hamilton like no other driver, he ends the Emilia Romagna GP ahead of Russell.
Haas
Finally both Haas drivers manage to finish a positive race. Both. I repeat it because I would never want that word to be lost in the middle of the sentence. If Hulkenberg takes home another interesting weekend by closing out the race not too far from the points, in the Emilia Romagna GP, Magnussen recovers from 18th to 12th position. But what makes the news is the fact that the Danish pilot does not commit any irregularities or actions bordering on the permitted limits.
RBF1 Team
It took him a while to get rid of the reputation of being a terrible Japanese guy. Yet, it will be the atmosphere of the home GP for his team (which we remember is the former Toro Rosso), but now the compliments and positive adjectives for Tsunoda are in abundance. Take it home another important point for the team, he proves to be a solid driver but above all he ends up once again ahead of his much more experienced and “elderly” teammate, Daniel Ricciardo. Thanks to the results he is obtaining, it cannot be ruled out that he could be one of the candidates for take Perez’s place in Red Bull. And Yuki to win that seat he’s giving it his all.
Aston Martin
It’s easy to go from riches to rags. Despite the updates brought to the AMR24 I think it is more than correct to say that something (and even more than something) didn’t work. With Alonso walking through the fields in free practice and starts from the pit lane for the race, the lifeline for the English team this weekend was Lance Stroll.
“Daddy’s boy” for once he scores points taking home an excellent ninth position while his much bulkier team leader couldn’t find the right fit in the single-seater. Maybe starting on Soft tires and replacing them with Hard tires so soon didn’t reveal itself such a winning strategy for Alonso.
Kick Sauber
One of the least visible single-seaters during the hour and a half of the race. Okay, that this is it a transition phase for Sauber awaiting its official debut on the track like Audi, but there’s not even a flash to pay for it in gold.
The car is what it is. You can’t expect too much. The only one who apparently wants to try is poor Zhou. The Chinese, who is rumored to be close to Alpine for next season, sprints behind Bottas and beats him also thanks to strategy.
The Finn takes it home yet another anonymous race. His strategy, a bit like Perez’s, studied while waiting for a Safety Car doesn’t pay off, but Valtteri doesn’t use anything of his own to improve the situation. Maybe he’s with the already head into cycling?
Alpine F1 Team
Despite the improvements seen in Miami, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for Alpine still far away. The improvement seen in Florida must remain on some beach in Miami to bask in the sun. The French team has not yet emerged from the crisis and there are no signs of improvement.
If Ocon, at least, manages to almost always arrive ahead of his teammate, Gasly is lost. We still have before our eyes the images of the transalpine driver from his time at Toro Rosso, who found himself again after the failed Red Bull experience. Now, one might think that the move to Alpine wasn’t the best choice. Gasly is good. Like Ocon. But unlike his teammate he has been around for a little too long finished in total anonymity.
Williams
Williams is already struggling. If the pilots then make things worse… we’re all set. With Sargeant recovering from the penultimate position to 17th place, also closing the Emilia Romagna GP ahead of Fernando Alonso and in his Aston Martin, Albon gets caught with hands in the cookie jar.
On the occasion of his first stop, the Anglo-Thai driver’s tire was fitted incorrectly and this forced him to complete a complete lap of the track at low speed to return to the pits and change the tyres.
Probably in the minds of the men at the Williams wall there was the desire to explain that lap with something wrong with the car, with a puncture perhaps. AND What does Albon do? He deceives the team via radio and he also gets a penalty. Ah. When it comes to collaboration.
