It was an eventful day of Formula 1 racing for 63 laps during Sunday’s Imola Grand Prix, but the race-winning move was made before the first turn.
From the P3 starting position, Max Verstappen timed the tree and jumped into first as the field drove through the opening corners.
He’d go on to make the trip to victory lane in the tour’s second race of the season. It’s the earliest victory in his career and it becomes his 11th career Formula 1 victory.
The replay to the start: Max gets a great jump and goes from third to first right away. #Formula1 #ImolaGP
No idea what language this is in but an incredible word count out of the announcer.
🎥 @NOSJournaal2 pic.twitter.com/hN1VkvpHVh
— Connor Ferguson (@cfchangs9) April 18, 2021
The 23-year-old in Verstappen will go into the next race at Portugal as the series points leader for the first time in his career.
Lewis Hamilton spent the first half of the race tailing Verstappen, but a slow pit stop by the Mercedes team prevented him from challenging for the lead.
A few laps after the first round of stops, Hamilton found himself in the gravel pit and lost eight positions on track.
He was saved contention-wise by his teammate Valtteri Bottas and George Russell wrecking after a racing incident that saw each car end up totaled.
The accident brought out the red flag and allowed the Mercedes team to get Hamilton’s car ready to go.
Through the final stint, the No. 44 drove through the field picking cars off one by one, and making it up to the runner-up position.
Lando Norris nearly held off Hamilton with a car that was going away fast, but will settle for a podium – just the second of his career.
Formula 1 will return to the track on May 2 as it takes to Portugal for its third race of the season. As always ESPN will have coverage.
Formula 1 Imola GP Results
1. Max Verstappen
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Lando Norris
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Carlos Sainz
6. Daniel Ricciardo
7. Lance Stroll
8. Pierre Gasly
9. Kimi Raikkonen
10. Esteban Ocon
11. Fernando Alonso
12. Sergio Perez
13. Yuki Tsunoda
14. Antonio Giovinazzi
15. Sebastian Vettel
16. Mick Schumacher
17. Nikita Mazepin
18. Valtteri Bottas
19. George Russell
20. Nicholas Latifi
