Motor racing-Verstappen holds off charging Norris to win at Imola
Verstappen wins from pole at Imola
Triple champion's fifth win in seven races this season
Norris less than a second behind after late charge
Leclerc takes third for Ferrari
Adds details, Horner quotes, points
By Alan Baldwin
IMOLA, Italy, May 19 (Reuters) -Max Verstappen held off a late charge by McLaren's Lando Norris to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix by less than a second on Sunday.
Red Bull's triple Formula One world champion took the chequered flag just0.725 of a secondahead of the man who beat him at the previous round in Miami and sensed he might snatch another.
The win was Verstappen's fifth in seven races this season, the 59th of his career and the third edition ina row at Imola. Last year's race at the Italian circuit was cancelled due to heavy flooding.
"I had no grip anymore. I was sliding a lot. I saw Lando closing in. The last 10 laps were flat out," said a relieved Verstappen, who had appeared set for another easy win but had to sweat ultimately for the spoils.
"It's difficult when the tyres were not working anymore and you have to go flat out. I couldn't afford to make too many mistakes. Luckily we didn't."
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was third at the Italian team's atmospheric home track, 7.916 off the pace, for his fourth podium finish of the season and a home race to come in Monaco next weekend.
The victory extended Verstappen's championship lead to 48 points, with Leclerc now his closest rival after Red Bull's Sergio Perez started 11th and finished only eighth.
Verstappen has 161 points, Leclerc 113 and Perez 107. Red Bull have 268 in the constructors' standings with Ferrari on 212 and McLaren on 154.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri finished fourth, after starting fifth due to a three-place grid penalty for impeding in qualifying.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was fifth and the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell sixth and seventh on another afternoon to forget for the once-dominant team.
Lance Stroll was ninth for Aston Martin, whose other driver Fernando Alonso started in the pitlane and finished 19th, and Yuki Tsunoda took the final point for Red Bull's Faenza-based RB team in their home race.
Verstappen held off Norris at a start without incident, the top four then running in grid order on a sunny afternoon at a track where overtaking can be tricky.
What had looked like being one of the dullest races so far this year came to life as Norris began eating into Verstappen's lead in the closing laps and the crowd, 200,000 over the weekend, sensed an upset.
Norris was 1.1 seconds adrift starting the final lap but just ran out of time.
"It hurts me to say but one or two more laps I think I would have had him," said the Briton.
"We are at a point now where we can say we are in the position with Ferrari and Red Bull. We have to get used to it. We are fighting for first and second now."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner agreed: "Massive pressure. A great, great job by Max to withstand that pressure," he said.
"It was a race of two halves for us. The first half was very strong, but the second half of that last stint, Lando started to catch us very quickly.
"The cars are converging after the latest upgrades, they are looking very similar. McLaren were very quick at this circuit and Ferrari as well."
Williams' Alex Albon collected a 10-second stop and go penalty for a botched tyre change, with the Thai having to return to the pits for a second stop due to a suspected loose front wheel.
Alonso also attracted attention when his front left brakes caught fire in the pits.
Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Andrew Heavens and Pritha Sarkar
Activos relacionados
Últimas noticias
Descargo de responsabilidades: Cada una de las entidades de XM Group proporciona un servicio de solo ejecución y acceso a nuestra plataforma de trading online, permitiendo a una persona ver o usar el contenido disponible en o a través del sitio web, sin intención de cambiarlo ni ampliarlo. Dicho acceso y uso están sujetos en todo momento a: (i) Términos y Condiciones; (ii) Advertencias de riesgo; y (iii) Descargo completo de responsabilidades. Por lo tanto, dicho contenido se proporciona exclusivamente como información general. En particular, por favor tenga en cuenta que, los contenidos de nuestra plataforma de trading online no son ni solicitud ni una oferta para entrar a realizar transacciones en los mercados financieros. Operar en cualquier mercado financiero implica un nivel de riesgo significativo para su capital.
Todo el material publicado en nuestra plataforma de trading online tiene únicamente fines educativos/informativos y no contiene –y no debe considerarse que contenga– asesoramiento ni recomendaciones financieras, tributarias o de inversión, ni un registro de nuestros precios de trading, ni una oferta ni solicitud de transacción con instrumentos financieros ni promociones financieras no solicitadas.
Cualquier contenido de terceros, así como el contenido preparado por XM, como por ejemplo opiniones, noticias, investigaciones, análisis, precios, otras informaciones o enlaces a sitios de terceros que figuran en este sitio web se proporcionan “tal cual”, como comentarios generales del mercado y no constituyen un asesoramiento en materia de inversión. En la medida en que cualquier contenido se interprete como investigación de inversión, usted debe tener en cuenta y aceptar que dicho contenido no fue concebido ni elaborado de acuerdo con los requisitos legales diseñados para promover la independencia en materia de investigación de inversiones y, por tanto, se considera como una comunicación comercial en virtud de las leyes y regulaciones pertinentes. Por favor, asegúrese de haber leído y comprendido nuestro Aviso sobre investigación de inversión no independiente y advertencia de riesgo en relación con la información anterior, al que se puede acceder aquí.
