The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was hit by rain for the second straight year, with Max Verstappen mastering the conditions while others faltered. We picked six winners and five losers from Imola.
Winner: Max Verstappen
This weekend could not have gone better for Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver who took pole in qualifying, won the first F1 sprint of the season before converting P1 in the Grand Prix into his second win of the season – with the fastest lap to boot .
That big tally of points has breathed new life into the reigning world champion’s title challenge. He is now just 27 points behind Charles Leclerc and is traveling to Miami with momentum after a commanding performance.
READ MORE: Verstappen Receives 2022 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award
Verstappen is back in the championship run after racking up maximum points
Loser: Charles Leclerc
The highs of leading the F1 sprint up to the last few laps must feel like a long time ago for Charles Leclerc, who suffered a poor start in the main Grand Prix and fell from second to fourth place.
Although he worked his way up to third place, a rare mistake in the chicane brought him into the barriers late on. He made it back to the pits to take on a new front wing but that dropped him to ninth place. He made up three places, but sixth was at least three places behind his car.
Winner: Lando Norris
There’s just something about Imola that seems to deliver tremendous results from Lando Norris, the McLaren driver who excels in difficult conditions to follow his podium at last year’s event with his first of the season.
READ MORE: Norris hails McLaren’s ‘amazing’ performance after back-to-back podiums at Imola
He has now been on the podium in the last three races on Italian soil (he was second at Monza) and moves up to sixth in the Drivers’ Championship ahead of compatriot Lewis Hamilton.
Norris and McLaren have turned their seasons after just four races
Loser: Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz recovered well from a mistake in qualifying and finished fourth for the Grand Prix after a good performance in the F1 sprint, but his participation on Sunday lasted less than a minute after being thrown into the gravel trap by Daniel Ricciardo.
The Spaniard couldn’t escape, forcing his second consecutive retirement. That means he has completed just one full lap of the race in the last two events and is now 48 points behind his Ferrari teammate Leclerc in the championship.
READ MORE: “I paid for Ricciardo’s mistake,” says Sainz after finishing the second straight race in the gravel trap
Winner: Kevin Magnussen
Kevin Magnussen’s fine return to Formula One continued as he added two points to the points he had scored in the previous day’s F1 sprint in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
It capped a fine weekend that saw him qualify fourth – Haas’ best qualifying performance ever – and means he has now scored in three of the first four races to take 10th place in the Drivers’ Championship.
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2022: Sainz has problems on gravel at the start in Imola
Loser: Lewis Hamilton
It was a sobering weekend for Lewis Hamilton, the Brit finished a low 13th for his first non-points result of the season.
It’s his worst race result since he finished 18th in Azerbaijan last year when he went down an escape route with two laps to go on the last restart while fighting for the lead.
READ MORE: Hamilton admits he’s ‘out of the championship fight’ after a tough run to P13 at Imola
Winner: Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas’ dream start in life at Alfa Romeo continued at Imola, the Finn put in a good performance to secure his best fifth place of the season and increased the pressure on George Russell in the closing stages.
Bottas excelled in both wet and dry conditions at Imola
That puts him eighth in the Drivers’ Championship, while Alfa Romeo moves up to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship after their best result since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Losers: The Tifosi
Ferrari’s loyal fan base came into effect at Imola on Sunday, the venue securing a sell-out of 64,000 – but they weren’t rewarded with a win – or even a podium.
READ MORE: What the teams said – Race day in Emilia Romagna
While Ferrari, who had their chairman John Elkann in town on Sunday, retain their lead in the constructors’ championship, they are now just 11 points ahead of Red Bull.
The Tifosi were out and about in Imola all weekend
Winner: Aston Martin
Aston Martin finally got on the board in 2022 – with both cars when Sebastian Vettel switched to slicks at the right time and ended up eighth.
His teammate Lance Stroll defended well and secured 10th place, which allowed him to match his record for every race this season (and never below 13th place).
WATCH: Check out slippery race start at Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as Sainz and Ricciardo tangle
Loser: Alpine
Alpine’s points run in 2022 ended at Imola when Fernando Alonso retired early after suffering an injury from contact with Mick Schumacher.
Another race to forget for Alonso, car damage leads to early retirement
Esteban Ocon was 11th but dropped to 14th after a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release, ending his seven-race points streak. This drops Alpine to sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Winner: George Russel
George Russell is one of just two drivers to have scored points at every Grand Prix so far this year – points leader Leclerc being the other – with the Mercedes racer delivering a flawless performance at Imola.
The Briton easily surpassed the W13’s capabilities in Italy, holding off stern pressure from Bottas – the driver he replaced at the Silver Arrows – to claim P4 for his fourth straight top-five finish.
HIGHLIGHTS: Relive the action from the Imola race as Verstappen dominates and leads Red Bull 2-1