Despite Oscar Piastri's pole position, despite McLaren's supposedly better race pace, we once again overlooked something, someone. His name is Max Verstappen!
The start was quite spectacular, at least for Max Verstappen: using the "non-existent lines," the Dutch driver immediately overtook Oscar Piastri and began to build an advantage for himself. Behind them, George Russell and Lando Norris battled, and after many laps, the latter managed to stay firmly in third place. Meanwhile, it was also worth watching the midfield, as both Williams and Aston Martin occupied valuable positions and were able to hold onto them for a long time.
The first four held on for a long time on medium tires, but there were those who decided to pit quite early, on lap 13. A cardinal change was brought about by Esteban Ocon's car stopping by the track and the subsequent VSC phase, during which almost the entire field turned around in the pits, and Piastri came out the worst from the pit stops. By the time everything settled, we saw Verstappen, Norris, Piastri in that order, along with a strong Williams and a recovering Ferrari.
It wasn't an exciting race until Kimi Antonelli, who was closing in nicely, had his Mercedes stop. This incident didn't warrant a safety car, yet it happened, opening up another pit window for the teams and nullifying Verstappen's significant advantage... After the restart, Norris made sure that his second place wasn't just a cameo role, overtaking Piastri and taking second place, while Lewis Hamilton and Alexander Albon also fought fantastically. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen, undisturbed by anyone, led the race and easily won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix ahead of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Photo: AutoGear
