The tussle in the closing stages of the race to determine the grid for Sunday’s grand prix at Imola marked the first time F1 has witnessed a proper wheel-to-wheel battle for the lead in its experimental sprint format.
Here’s how the fight played out over 21 laps of racing…
Verstappen’s ‘terrible’ getaway
Verstappen immediately dropped behind Leclerc when the lights went out as he bogged down, enabling the fast-starting Ferrari to surge into the lead before the Turn 1 kink.
The Red Bull driver suffered from wheelspin and a lack of traction before he reported a gear-sync issue over team radio.
“It was terrible when I let the clutch go,” Verstappen explained. “Just a lot of wheel spin and no traction, so my start was very, very poor.”
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Asked whether he felt pole was on the wrong side of the grid, Verstappen replied: “Lando had a decent start so there’s no excuses.
“My start was just terrible and I didn’t have gear sync for whatever reason. So I need to see exactly what went wrong.”
In contrast, Leclerc made an electric getaway and was able to pull clear of his main rival in the early exchanges after nailing the safety car restart.
“I had a very good start,” acknowledged the Monegasque. “We were side-by-side for Turn 1 and I could focus on my own race from that moment onwards.”
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Leclerc’s tire struggles turn the tide
Having appeared to have stolen a march on Verstappen with another controlled drive, Leclerc’s advantage soon disappeared when he began to suffer with tire graining on his front right tyre.
Leclerc admitted he paid the price for pushing hard early on as too much tire consumption ultimately impacted his pace and crucially allowed Verstappen to close back up heading into the final few laps.
“I tried to push at the beginning to get a bit of a gap and not allow Max to get in the DRS zone, because I knew that I would have been vulnerable in that case,” said Leclerc.
“But I paid the price a little bit later on in the race. I had some graining and really struggled in the last two or three laps.”
Verstappen makes his move
Reigning world champion Verstappen was able to capitalize on Leclerc’s tire woes to move himself back into contention and get within DRS range on Lap 16.
After bidding his time, Verstappen closed to within 0.5s and finally struck with two laps to go, sealing his race-winning move with a sweetly-executed around the outside pass into the Tamburello chicane.
Elaborating on his plan of attack, Verstappen said: “Charles was definitely struggling more with the graining. So then of course I could close up and use the DRS to get by.
“I think it was more just a bit of waiting game because every lap it seemed like the gap, or the difference between the two cars was getting bigger in terms of lap times.”
The result gives Verstappen pole for the main race on Sunday and sees the Dutchman reduce his deficit to Leclerc in the championship to 45 points.
Despite ultimately losing out in the sprint, Leclerc remains hopeful Ferrari can strike back on Sunday, providing it can find a “cure” to its tire woes.
“I think the pace is quite similar,” he said. “What made the difference in the end is the graining phase I went through and if we manage to cure that for tomorrow, I’m pretty sure we’ll be in the fight for the win.”
