Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc fought in Imola to win the first F1 sprint of the season. Eventually, Verstappen overtook Leclerc and grabbed the pole position for Sunday’s race. Valtteri Bottas rose perfectly to seventh.
The first Formula One sprint race of the season on Saturday in Imola, Italy saw a fierce battle to win. In the sprint race, a third of the length of the actual race was run, ie 21 laps.
Ferrari left the second square Charles Leclerc rose past the start of Red Bull, which had a weak start About Max Verstappen. For a long time it seemed that the top two were pushing to the finish in their places, until a few laps before the end of the sprint the Dutchman had risen a little stealthily again to the Monaco position.
In the second round, Verstappen inevitably overtook Leclerc, and the Ferrari driver leading the World Championship no longer had a chance to respond.
Verstappen said he probably had slightly better tires at the end than Leclerc. Leclerc was on the same lines.
– Tomorrow, however, I will start from the front row. There was a bit of a problem with the tires at the end of the sprint race, it needs to be analyzed, Leclerc noted and praised the great encouragement maintained by Ferrari’s home audience in Imola.
So Verstappen will also leave the pole position for Sunday’s race and Leclerc from the second square.
The other drivers in the stables drove a solid sprint race. Red Bullin Sergio Perez rose from the seventh square to the third.
Yesterday, due to a driving error, the run-off of his time trial ruined Ferrari Carlos Sainz Jr. rose from the tenth square to the fourth. Red Bull and Ferrari were in a class of their own compared to other stables.
Big relief for Valtteri Bottas – “We can fight for fifth place”
In addition to Perez and Sainz Valtteri Bottas can be happy with his sprint. Bottas had to suspend time trials on Friday night due to a technical failure. His car was repaired on Saturday and Bottas was unable to attend the day’s rehearsals. And after it had been raining on Friday, Bottas, like the other drivers, had no exercises in dry weather. The sprint race was run in dry weather.
The body of Bottas’ car had been replaced. In time, Alfa Romeo’s exhaust system was faulty, causing temperatures in the car to rise. The damage was so extensive that the stable saw it best to change the hull. The engine had been moved to the spare frame, but Bottas had to put in a new gearbox.
– We had a problem with the exhaust. And that’s why the components around it burned out, like the gearbox housing, the team manager explained before the sprint. Frederic Vasseur.
Bottas’ wish before the sprint was that “as long as the tricks work now.”
Bottas started the sprint from the eighth square and dropped a couple of places in the start. However, he passed first Sebastian Vettelinthen Fernando Alonson and at the end yet Kevin Magnussen.
Bottas scored two points on the World Series table when they were split into the top eight in the sprint. Sprint winner Verstappen cashed for eight points.
In an interview with Viaplay, the Finnish driver was very satisfied with Alfa Romeo’s pace. Only the start, which has been a challenge this season, caused another headache.
– The departure was a bit bad again. It’s been hard this season, this time it just left to whine. It was a good race after that, Bottas summed up.
– The pace was good and I was able to pass a few cars. It gives a good feel to tomorrow when we felt we had a good race car here. Tomorrow we will definitely be able to fight McLaren, Bottas believed.
The Finnish driver admitted that it took a couple of laps to get to the rhythm when he could not participate in the exercises and did not get a feel for the dry weather tires.
– This day gives a lot of faith to tomorrow. We will be able to fight for fifth place in a normal race, I think so. At the end, the pace was faster than (Lando) Norrisilla and (Daniel) Ricciardolla.
So Bottas will start tomorrow from the seventh square and he is confident that the McLaren duo starting in advance will be challenged.
Where was Mercedes?
There is a lot to be said about the sinking of Bottas’ former team Mercedes George Russellia or Lewis Hamiltonia appeared throughout the sprint race on TV images, when the main focus was naturally on the top fight and overtaking.
Russell started the sprint in 11th place and was 11th. Hamilton lost one place and was 14th.
Hamilton has won at least one race each season since he started in number one in 2007.
– This is really weird. There has been talk of Mercedes and Hamilton for eight years. This shows the brutality of the species. Hamilton is in a situation where he has not had his entire career. Things in the sport can change fast, of course, but how can Mercedes lose the ball and be like the Rookie team, Viaplay’s expert said. Toni Vilander in the broadcast.
Ferrari has a double wire
Below you can still see the points situations before Sunday’s race. In the sprint, the World Cup points were awarded to the top eight. For winner 8, second 7, third 6 and so on. Tomorrow’s race is of course much more important when, for example, the winner gets 25 points.
However, there were small changes to the table. Sainz rose past Russell, so Ferrari now has a double lead in the drivers ’points. Red Bull rose to second place among manufacturers.