Max and Sergio crash the Tifosi Festa

Max and Sergio crash the Tifosi Festa: Analysis of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, brought to you by Bahrain International Circuit

F1 was back to Imola and for the first time this season a sprint race formed part of the weekend. As a reminder, the format of these weekends means that qualifying takes place on a Friday, which sets the grid for the sprint race. The sprint race on Saturday is run over 100km (21 laps of Imola) with points on offer for the top eight. Points were only on offer for the top three last year, so this difference adds more significance for these shorter races. The result of the sprint race then sets the grid for the main Sunday race.

In Friday’s qualifying, the weather played a major part with rain never far away, leading to five red flags during the session. Under a clear track, once again there was little in it between Ferrari and Red Bull, with Verstappen pipping Leclerc to pole. Further back, Norris was an impressive third, making the most of difficult conditions. Elsewhere, Mercedes continued to be the big story as it struggled as much as ever in qualifying, with Russell 11th and Hamilton 13th. The Silver Arrows fared no better in the following day’s sprint race, with the team and drivers all admitting that their chances of fighting for a championship this season are now almost non-existent.

The sprint race itself was all about a head to head duel between Verstappen and Leclerc. Leclerc got the better start but never managed to shake off the Red Bull which, for the majority of the race, was never more than two seconds behind. With Leclerc’s tyres beginning to fade on lap 19, Verstappen got within DRS range and took the lead with two laps to go. With his tyres obviously in better condition, Verstappen held that lead easily for the win. Their teammates both put in impressive fights, with Perez coming from seventh to finish third and Sainz moving from tenth to fourth. Norris and Ricciardo took fifth and sixth, with Bottas and Magnussen taking the remaining points.

Race day was a sea of red in the grandstands, as over 60,000 fans packed into Imola with the passionate Tifosi celebrating the first F1 race held with fans at Ferrari’s spiritual home since 2006. Those celebrations were short lived, however, as early contact between Sainz and Ricciardo put the Spaniard out on lap one. At the front, Verstappen got off to the perfect start in damp conditions, with all cars starting on intermediate wet tyres. Leclerc struggled off the line, offering Perez a chance to move up to second, with Lando Norris having an encouraging early start too. It stayed much the same at the front, even after a round of pit stops on lap 19, where everyone switched to the dry tyres. Verstappen remained almost entirely untroubled at the front, as did Perez, despite coming under occasional pressure from Leclerc. On lap 51, Leclerc decided to stop for fresh tyres in the hope he could come out, retain his position, but also have a chance for a fastest lap. However, an error on lap 54 put his car into the tyre barrier and he required a further pit stop for a new front wing. He came back out in ninth and recovered somewhat to finish sixth. It marked a difficult day for Ferrari, where expectations from the home crowd were incredibly high.