At the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit, we witnessed another victory for Max Verstappen, but one again there’s no Red Bull dominance. And that’s the most important news and confirmation of the day from Imola. McLaren and Scuderia Ferrari confirm the recent progress made with updates to the MCL38 and the SF-24 single-seaters, showing very competitive pace throughout the race. Lando Norris hoped in the final laps, giving it his all, while Charles Leclerc had to give up chasing the McLaren driver after a mistake in the final stages of the race, but still secured a solid podium finish.
Points also for Racing Bulls and Aston Martin with Lance Stroll, while Mercedes and Sergio Perez had a ‘quiet’ race, finishing between sixth and eighth positions, almost undisturbed. Before the race, to honor the 30th anniversary of Ayrton Senna’s passing and in memory of Roland Ratzenberger, former Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel returned to the track with the historic McLaren of the Brazilian for a lap at Imola, in a very emotional moment for himself and the Italian audience.
Looking back at the race, is a new Formula 1 world championship beginning at Imola? Maybe not, but Ferrari and McLaren are clearly closing in on Red Bull and only Max Verstappens’s impressive ability to maximize the RB20 package is still making a difference.
Let’s take a detailed look at how things unfolded for the Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in Imola.
Oscar Piastri’s penalty, which demotes him to fifth position behind Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, and Carlos Sainz, in addition to Max Verstappen who was already on pole, losing his front-row spot, is not the only novelty on the starting grid. Given the very complicated qualifying and starting in the back rows, Aston Martin decided to make setup changes to Fernando Alonso’s AMR24. The Spaniard will therefore start from the pit lane and will have the opportunity to use the Grand Prix to collect new data on the updates brought to Imola after the mistake in FP3 and practically not competing in Qualifying. Tire choices do not hold any particular surprises: Medium for the majority of drivers on the track with only Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso, from the pit lane, choosing the Soft tire. Hard tires for Sergio Perez, aiming to extend the first stint starting eleventh, Guanyu Zhou, and Logan Sargeant.
The sun is currently shining and for the first hour of the race, the technicians inform that there is no risk of rain. After the usual checks and starting procedures, the compounds with which the two updated SF-24 cars will start the event are revealed: each has a set of Pirelli yellow-banded tires. Great care is taken in the warm-up strategy to get as much temperature into the tires as possible without stressing them. Charles Leclerc‘s clutch release is not optimal, while Carlos Sainz’s is better.
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At the start of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, nothing happens in the front positions, with the Ferrari drivers maintaining their positions. Max Verstappen’s tactic remains the same as always: try to build a safety margin on order to avoid attacks from Lando Norris. However, the gap does not widen because Lando is very fast and in the early laps, he can keep up with the Dutchman. Leclerc tries not to lose ground to the aforementioned duo, keeping an eye on his mirrors where the Spanish Ferrari driver is seen, followed by Piastri and Russell.
The stalemate phase of the Grand Prix takes shape immediately, with the top six maintaining a delta that varies from one and a half to two seconds, following each other not too closely to avoid stressing the tires and increasing degradation. Boredom takes over F1. There are very few things to say at this moment, except that Piastri, as mentioned behind the Spaniard, seems to have a better pace. Meanwhile, the usual advice regarding the braking system and differential arrives. On lap ten, the track engineers of the “two Carlos” want to know more about the tires. Therefore, they request the first tire phase update, a useful measure to access various data concerning the condition of the tires.
The Hard tires do not require a particular warm-up, this is communicated over the radio confirming the data related to the hardest tires in the batch. For now, the strategy shifts to Plan B, waiting for something to happen. Meanwhile, Max is finally managing to gain some ground on Norris, extending his lead over the Englishman to about 4 seconds. Car number 4 of McLaren seems to have slight difficulties with the rear. For this reason, Charles is trying to get closer to the papaya-colored car, which reacts and starts pushing again. Bozzi confirms and urges him to push.
Finally, Carlos Sainz’s video feed includes audio, which has been mute until this stage of the race. Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami informs the Spaniard of the lap times, warns that Piastri is still in the DRS zone, and advises varying the braking status in turns 1 and 2 to optimize this phase. They now switch to hybrid mode Soc 5, for slightly better power. Bryan compliments the Monegasque because his pace is very good. Upon reaching the twentieth lap of the 63 to be completed, they talk about a possible pit stop. If car number 16 stops now, it would be in Perez’s zone, who currently occupies eighth place.
Bryan Bozzi continues to encourage Charles Leclerc. Most likely, the tire change is approaching. On lap 23, the first “fake” stop happens, with Charles staying on track. Norris, however, stops to fit the Hard tires. Bryan urges his driver, providing him with a better map, now that he can run in free air, six seconds behind Verstappen. Piastri also pits, and Carlos, like his teammate, stays on track. The tactic does not seem brilliant, though, as Leclerc returns to the track behind Perez. The Mexican does not last long, and the Ferrari driver takes his position.
However, Norris is still ahead, and the gap compared to before the stop is greater. Next, it’s Sainz’s turn, who, like his teammate, fits the Hard tires. The Spaniard loses position to Piastri and finds himself behind the second Red Bull driver. Again, overtaking the Guadalajara driver is quite easy. The radio tones are very relaxed, as if everything is under control. However, Oscar becomes insistent behind Charles. The Australian shows himself a lot in the mirrors and will most likely attempt an overtaking maneuver in the next laps.
Ferrari has let it be known that they will finish the race without further stops. This means about 35 laps on the white-banded Pirellis. Carlos indicates that his feeling with the car on the Hard tires is different, while Bozzi is quite satisfied with Leclerc’s handling, who, after several laps, seems to finally have the correct operating temperature for his tires. Because of this, he lowers his lap time, shaking off Piastri a bit. Bryan reminds him to be careful of micro-lockups in braking that can increase tire wear.
At this stage, the top five are essentially running at the same pace. Absolute boredom continues to be present in a Grand Prix that so far has not offered any excitement in the upper echelons of the championship standings. To try to liven things up a bit, technically speaking, we can say that the two reds show good balance. Compared to the first stint on Mediums, the two Ferraris seem better able to manage the Hard tires. We refer to the fact that there appears to be higher than expected tire wear, a factor that the reds are managing with skill. For this reason, there are several measures in traction and cornering.
The drivers who will be able to achieve better tire management will enjoy a certain benefit at the end of the race. Bozzi lets it be known that Norris is making a few too many mistakes at this stage. With 20 laps to go, in fact, Charles has closed the gap to Lando. The SF-24 of the Monegasque is trying to get as close as possible, aiming to attempt an attack, while Sainz is unable to gain significant time on Piastri and remains about 4 seconds behind. Bryan continues to compliment Charles and believes that towards the end of the race, the opportunity to attack the British McLaren driver will come. For this, he asks to manage the tires well.
Between these two drivers, there are some lapped cars that cause Charles to lose some time. Once they are behind, his gap to the British driver stabilizes at 3 seconds. The strategy is to bide time for a few more laps before pushing again. Once again, they talk about micro-lockups, to try to avoid them and extend the tire’s useful life as much as possible. Meanwhile, little by little, Carlos is clawing back a few tenths on Piastri, who nevertheless maintains his pace well. Ferrari’s strategy for Leclerc is not working.
The pace is not enough to catch Norris, who in the end gets quite close to Verstappen, leaving Leclerc behind. The Englishman’s McLaren gets to within one and a half seconds but cannot get any closer. An honest race for Ferrari which, although their tire management seemed very good, generally had a slightly slower pace than the papaya-colored cars. For this reason, Leclerc’s podium is still good, enough to keep Piastri behind, who could not handle his car as well as his teammate. Carlos Sainz, less sharp than his teammate this weekend, takes fifth place.
Finally, we highlight a couple of factors. The Imola F1 track was not really suitable for the Maranello team, and although the updates were confirmed, we can say that it still takes time to validate the updates and unlock further potential. Max Verstappen wins again, who at the moment, no longer dominating and having to defend tooth and nail, remains the benchmark of the highest category of motorsport. Kudos to him and his team, who managed to turn around a very difficult Friday.
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