In Pictures: Imola 2021
Max Verstappen wins at Imola! A fantastic race, filled with drama and so many emotions.
The weekend started with some uncertainty as the mighty Mercedes were challenged by many others during practices and qualifying, which saw why Lewis Hamilton is a seven times World Champion by taking his 99th Pole Position from a fast-charging Sergio Perez in front of teammate Max Verstappen.
Everyone was expecting a dry race but the race gods had something else in mind as it was raining by the time the race started. Max Verstappen had a fantastic start jumping from third to first with a masterful second-gear launch. Hamilton briefly led again when Verstappen pitted for mediums from intermediates on Lap 27 but emerged second thanks to his lengthy stop one lap later. On Lap 31, Hamilton locked up and beached his car at Tosa but was able to recover and reverse into the track, rejoining in P8.
A frightening accident happened as George Russell tried to pass Valtteri Bottas in the straight before Tamburello but put his right rear on the wet grass losing control of his Williams and collecting Bottas' Mercedes with him, both ending up at the same place Ayrton Senna lost his life in 1994. Both were thankfully unhurt. The race was red flagged so the Marshalls could clear the cars and debris from the track.
The rolling restart saw Verstappen keep his lead, with Hamilton quickly making up ground from P8. A brilliant recovery followed, with the world champion up to fifth by Lap 43, fourth by Lap 50, third by Lap 55, catching Verstappen at an enormous pace... that W12 is fast, very fast... he eventually finished second, with a very happy Lando Norris getting third place for McLaren.
““I am of course very happy with this win for everyone in the Team and Honda. I think the key was of course the start as we had a great launch. I surprised myself as it was always hard to get off the line in the wet last year but we worked hard to try and improve that and it worked. The conditions were challenging out there, especially in the beginning and it was very hard to stay on track but we stayed out of trouble. I wouldn’t call it a dominant performance as Lewis was following me quite well and for him to come back to second after his incident means they have a lot of pace in that car. We won because we made the right calls with tires at the right time and the Team managed everything well in these conditions. With the tires degrading, choosing the right moment to go onto slicks wasn’t easy but we got it right. I had a little moment at the re-start trying to warm up the tires with some throttle but luckily, we didn’t spin. We still have to work hard to improve because it’s very close, but for now I’m very happy with the result. I’m looking forward to Portimão because it’s an amazing track and then we go to a track we all know well in Barcelona. We’ll see what we can do but so far, it’s been a good start to the year.””
