Max’s Imola win ‘seemed probably easy on TV’

To the viewers, Max Verstappen said his Imola victory probably looked rather easy, but focus led to a vital Red Bull one-two.

Verstappen was rarely threatened at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, leading from the start of the race until the finish as he took victory with a margin of 16.5 seconds over his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

That result lifted Verstappen to P2 in the Drivers’ Championship, while Red Bull now trail Ferrari by only 11 points in the Constructors’ following a rare one-two finish.

On the face of it, Verstappen, it seemed, had a smooth run to the chequered flag on a race weekend when Ferrari faltered on home soil, but Verstappen made it clear he and Perez had to remain focused to secure the result.

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“Melbourne wasn’t great for us and the start of the season in general wasn’t amazing, so we needed a good weekend,” said Verstappen, quoted by the Formula 1 website.

“I didn’t expect it to be like this but when you have a weekend at the end like this, that’s incredible – a one-two for the team but also maximum points scored.

“Also the way we handled the race, we didn’t really make any mistakes and I think we made the right calls switching from the inters to the slicks, and from then onwards we just controlled the