The Formula 1 edit

Hello everyone! Welcome to the first race in our European triple header! I’m so happy to have you! Let’s get into it!

The grid

Here is your starting grid for the Imola grand prix.

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3. George Russell (Mercedes)
4. Lando Norris (McLaren)
5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
6. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
7. Alex Albon (Williams)
8. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
9. Isack Hadjar (VCARB)
10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
11. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
12. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
13. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
14. Gabriel Bortoleto (Stake)
15. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
16. Liam Lawson (VCARB)
17. Nico Hulkenberg (Stake)
18. Esteban Ocon (Haas)
19. Oliver Bearman (Haas)
20. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

The race

It’s lights out and away we go! This time on the historical track in Northern Italy! The Driver’s Championship leader, Oscar Piastri, is at the front of our grid, followed by the reigning world champion Max Verstappen in second and Mercedes driver George Russell in third.

The five red lights go out and we’re racing in Imola! The Man from Melbourne holds on to first, but George Russell quickly gains speed and momentarily takes second position! Only for Verstappen to steal it right back! After taking back second, Verstappen goes in for the kill and starts driving tire to tire with his opponent! Oscar Piastri, try as he might, can’t deny that even though he may be a strong contender for the championship, Max has a four-time world champion advantage on him! Max Verstappen takes first place! Once Verstappen takes first right out from under Piastri, he quickly takes off and leaves the other 19 drivers to fend for themselves.

In lap 3, quite a little tiff happened between the drivers in 9th and 10th place! Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, 10th, made the move to pass Alpine driver Pierre Gasly, 9th, and take 9th place. In the process of doing so, Charles made a wide turn and ran Gasly off the track! The Frenchman quickly recovered but not without his fair share of spewed gravel and grid position drops! Gasly to 14th.

7 laps later, McLaren driver Lando Norris decided that fourth wouldn’t suffice, so then started the series of overtaking attempts to pass George Russell for 3rd. Norris followed the fellow Brit with less than a second between them. He briefly mowed the grass with his car on the side of the track before regaining himself and continuing on. One lap later, he made to pass Russell again but fell short. Only a couple of turns later, he successfully managed to go around the outside and take 3rd position!

In lap 14, Oscar Piastri took his first pit stop of the race. It was quite a slow stop, definitely not up to racing standards, so his fellow driver in Papaya took 2nd from him. Lando Norris to second!

Nothing too exciting happened between the laps of 15 through 28. Verstappen held onto first, Norris in second, and shockingly enough, Williams driver Alex Albon had assumed third place!

In lap 29, Lando Norris took his first pit stop. Unlike his teammate, Norris’s pit went absolutely perfect and was very quick. Albon was fortunately 15 seconds behind the McLaren car so Lando had more than enough time to make his pit stop. Once leaving the pit lane, he resumed 2nd position.

In the same lap as Norris’s pit stop, a Haas car pulled off the track! Esteban Ocon’s red, white, and black car supposedly had mechanical issues with the power unit. The Frenchman unfortunately had to retire his car and couldn’t finish the race. Virtual Safety Car deployed.

1 lap later, still under the VSC, Red Bull made the very smart decision to have Verstappen take his first pit stop under the safety of the safety car (properly named, is it not?!) Since the Dutchman had a 34 second gap from second position, Verstappen could take his time getting his tires changed! Oh the luxuries of being Max Verstappen!

Quite a lot of drivers made the executive decision to change their tires during the VSC, Oscar Piastri was not one of them! So he found himself in second place! One lap later his engineers decided it was time for him to box. He changed his tires and was in a desperate hurry to emerge from the pit lane before Alex Albon came speeding through. Norris already took 2nd when Piastri was in the pit lane, so he couldn’t have Albon pass him as well! Unfortunately, the pit stop just wasn’t fast enough! In goes Albon to third!

In lap 34, Lewis Hamilton started his overtaking streak of the rookies! He first passed 18 year old Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes car, then, a lap later, he passed Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls car! Hamilton up to 5th!

6 laps later, Piastri was looking to take back the podium finish he so desperately wanted, and that process would require him to pass Alex Albon, his teammate, and finally, the world champion. Seems easy enough! Albon hasn’t been on a podium in Formula 1 in 5 years and today is certainly not the day that he breaks that losing streak. Piastri easily passes him and took 3rd place!

Yet another car pulling off the road! In lap 46, young rookie Kimi Antonelli complained to his race engineer that he had an issue with the car. He pulled off the track and found himself in the grass. Antonelli, at the ripe age of 18, was celebrating his first ever home race on this fateful day. It may not have been an ideal first home race for the rookie, but with the way he’s been driving at other circuits, I don’t think that this unfortune will last long! Kimi had to retire his car, sending out the Safety Car yet again.

Lando Norris takes advantage of the Safety Car to make a pit stop. He entered the pit lane in third place, but by the time he made to exit the pit lane, Albon was hot on his tail. Albon passed Norris and is now third. Norris drops back to 4th.

Every car racing began to fall into line, waiting for the Safety Car to leave. What was Verstappen’s loss was the McLaren cars gain. Verstappen was very far ahead of the rest of his competitors, but once he had to slow down for the Safety Car, all the space he put between himself and the papaya cars closed up.

Safety Car ends and we’re racing at full speed once again! Verstappen holds on but Piastri is fast approaching! Farther back on the grid, Lewis Hamilton easily passes his former Mercedes teammate George Russell for 6th place.

Lando Norris closes up the distance between his car and his teammate’s car, he goes around the outside and passes Piastri quick and easy like! Lando Norris to second! Piastri maintains a close distance but is unable to take back second place from Lando.

With three laps left to go, Alex Albon takes his chance and goes to pass Charles Leclerc which ends up with him driving through the gravel! He quickly regains his original place. Charles Leclerc holds his ground. Through goes Lewis Hamilton to pass Alex Albon as well! Albon takes 6th position!

The Ferrari cars are now finding themselves going to battle against each-other. It was quite the disappointment when both Italian cars were disqualified in Q2 during qualifying, but seeing both cars out there fighting for 4th position is quite the recovery for the drivers in red! The teammates decide a fight is not necessary so Leclerc easily lets Hamilton breeze past into 4th.

In the last lap of the race, the FIA Stewards decided that the Leclerc-Albon incident was an act of forcing another driver off the track. So, Leclerc ended up having to give the position to Albon who was ready and willing to take it! Albon to fifth! The third time that he has secured 5th position this year!

Max Verstappen wins the Emilia Romagna grand prix! When Max finds himself in first, even if it’s in one of the first laps, there’s almost always a guarantee that the first position will turn into a podium finish for the Dutchman!

results

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Lando Norris (McLaren)
3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
4. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
5. Alex Albon (Williams)
6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
7. George Russell (Mercedes)
8. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
9. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
10. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

Alexa, play MONACO by Bad Bunny!

xx