After failing to win the F1 Bahrain Season Opening Grand Prix, Max Verstappen knew he couldn’t allow Lewis Hamilton to build momentum and consolidate his lead at the top of the championship.
A poor qualifying for the Dutchman left him in third place and it looked like the pressure to finally have a car that could make it to Hamilton was reaching him.
Verstappen brought all doubts to bed with a secured victory in Imola and stormed to the top from third place at the beginning.
One small mistake when the race was close to restart after the red flag time was the only flaw in Verstappens’ performance on race day as he moved to one point ahead of championship leader Hamilton.
Here are 10 things we learned from the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix …
1. The Red Bull-Honda combination has improved in all areas
After Bahrain it was clear that the Red Bull RB16B was a car that could win this year’s title in the hands of Verstappen.
A notable weak point in recent seasons – especially in the wet – has been how the Red Bull got off the line.
On the subject of matching items
“I think the key was getting off to a good start, which also surprised me a little that after last year, when we always had to deal with wet conditions, we definitely made some improvements over the winter and at the beginning of the year today it was very good, ”said Verstappen in the press conference after the race after his victory in Imola.
Verstappen drove past Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez from the start and had enough momentum to ensure that he led into the opening sequence of the corners ahead of Hamilton.
An important area of improvement for Red Bull as it aims to win its first titles since 2013.
2. Verstappen forces Hamilton to take risks – and make mistakes
Verstappen’s 10th career win was assured when Hamilton made a rare mistake at Tosa trying to lap George Russell’s Williams, run into the gravel, and overcome the barrier.
On the subject of matching items
Ultimately, the mistake did not prove to be too costly for the reigning world champion as he recovered from ninth place and – somewhat ironically – benefited from the incident between Russell and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, which led to an interruption of the red flag and thus allowed the team to repair his damaged car.
Hamilton’s urgency to get past the baking markers was because Verstappen was getting away with it – he knew he couldn’t afford to waste time on the relentless Dutchman.
If Bottas had been at the top, Hamilton might have taken fewer risks, knowing that he would most likely have the pace to overtake his teammate, as we’ve seen countless times in 2020.
3. Norris took another step in 2021
While we only do two races in the 2021 F1 season, Lando Norris’ form has been remarkable.
Had it not been for a slight extension of the track in Turn 9 on his last Q3 attempt, he would have qualified third ahead of Verstappen.
From 7th place onwards, Norris showed an excellent pace in wet and dry conditions that was spectacular enough for McLaren to order Daniel Ricciardo to get out of the way.
Norris then made the most of his soft tires on the restart to displace Charles Leclerc for second place.
He withstood the pressure from Hamilton as long as he could, but the sheer pace of the W12 and the longer DRS zone meant Norris ultimately had to settle for third place.
Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc are widely recognized as the top three drivers in F1 right now.
If it’s still early, Norris should stay that way and keep Ricciardo at bay – then maybe it will be time to talk about Norris as one of F1’s greatest talents.
4. Time for the ‘wingmen’ to strengthen themselves
The drivers ‘championship battle is expected to take place between Hamilton and Verstappen, but the constructors’ title depends on which of Bottas and Perez does better.
Perez did better against the two at Imola when he overtook team-mate Verstappen, while Bottas only managed eighth on the grid as he tried to get his front tires up to temperature for both laps in the third quarter.
The Mexican was unable to maintain the pace he showed in qualifying, nor could his teammate Verstappen when he was embroiled in a battle with Norris and Leclerc for the podium after receiving his 10-second stop-go penalty for illegal overtaking had served under the safety car.
Shortly after the race resumed after the red flag, Perez lost control of his car at the exit of the Villeneuve chicane and dropped it out of the points-paying positions.
With Bottas out of the running thanks to his incident with Russell, this was the perfect opportunity for Red Bull and Perez to take advantage.
With Portimao in mind, both Bottas and Perez will be under pressure to stay ahead with their teammates.
5. Ricciardo and Alonso still need time to adapt
Moving to a new team is never easy and Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso’s struggles at Imola show that they still need time to adapt to their new surroundings.
Ricciardo’s pace compared to Norris wasn’t nearly all weekend and ended up 27 seconds behind.
Alonso was only able to achieve 15th place in qualifying, while team-mate Esteban Ocon finished ninth.
It was a bad race for the two-time F1 champion as he ran into the barriers on his way to the grid and spun as he moved through the rubble on the track as a result of the incident with Bottas-Russell.
Ricciardo and Alonso couldn’t keep up with their younger teammates, but both drivers left Italy with points in their names.
6. Williams is on the rise
It was ultimately another missed opportunity for Williams to score points as Russell and Nicholas Latifi didn’t finish.
That said, there were still many positives for the Grove-based team as both cars made it into the second quarter for the first time since Hungary last year.
Russell qualifies for 12th place; Latifi 14th – encouraging for Williams and should it continue there should be spots on the horizon soon.
7. Calm the Tsunoda hype
Yuki Tsunoda’s performance and overtaking in Bahrain attracted a lot of attention.
Imola would have brought the young Japanese rookie back to earth after surviving a hot weekend.
The AlphaTauri at Imola should perform well as it was tested multiple times on the racetrack before the season, while the AT02 looks like a very capable car based on pre-season testing and race one.
Tsunoda did it in the first quarter and had to start last.
A strong first half of the race was ruined when he spun while trying to fight Lewis Hamilton after the red flag restart.
There is no doubt about Tsunoda’s talents and potential, but Imola emphasized how far he still has to go.
8. Qualifying is again a spectacle
In the last few seasons, qualifying was more of a routine, as both Mercedes drivers took pole position with Verstappen in third place.
While there is still a significant performance gap in racing gear, the performance gaps in a single qualifying lap make qualifying a fantastic spectacle.
The top 8 at Imola were within a little over 0.4 seconds – the closest we have seen in F1 since Malaysia in 2012.
May it be a long time!
9. F1 can consistently follow the limits of the police
After a ridiculous start to the season in Bahrain, where the track limits dominated the headlines, F1 showed in Imola that it can monitor the track limits consistently and fairly.
There was no drama or confusion in Imola – the rules were clear.
Potentially backed by Imola’s unforgiving nature, only Norris in the third quarter and Tsunoda (who received a five-second penalty for exceeding track restrictions more than three times) were the notable drivers to be affected by the rules.
Hopefully Portimao will be the same next.
10. Imola deserves a regular place on the F1 calendar
The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari is rich in F1 history and the 2021 race has shown why it should be an integral part of the calendar.
Implacable track limits, high speed, gravel, nostalgia – all the ingredients for a great F1 Grand Prix.
While overtaking at Imola isn’t the easiest, the expanded DRS zone allowed for better action and bike-to-bike duels to Tamburello.
Any stretch with a lack of drain has a thumbs up from me.
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