Red Bull driver Max Verstappen wins F1’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to end Piastri’s streak

IMOLA, Italy: Max Verstappen gave his Formula 1 title defense a big boost with victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday after a daring overtake on standings leader Oscar Piastri at the start.

The Dutch driver built a commanding lead which was wiped out when the safety car bundled the field back up. He still held on to win ahead of Lando Norris, who overtook his McLaren teammate Piastri for second with five laps remaining.

Verstappen took his second win of the season, and first since last month’s Japanese Grand Prix, and denied Piastri — who finished third — what would have been his fourth win in a row.

Verstappen praised his Red Bull team’s “fantastic execution all round” as the team marked its 400th F1 race with a win.

“The start itself wasn’t particularly great, but I was still on the outside line, or basically the normal (racing) line, and I was like, ‘Well, I’m just going to try and send it round the outside,’ and it worked really well,” Verstappen said of his crucial overtake. “That, of course, unleashed our pace because once we were in the lead, the car was good.”

Norris’ late-race move on Piastri was almost a copy of Verstappen’s, though Norris had the advantage of being on fresher tires than his teammate.

“We had a good little battle at the end between Oscar and myself, which is always tense, but always good fun,” Norris said, admitting that Verstappen and Red Bull were “too good for us today.”

Piastri’s lead over Norris in the standings was cut to 13 points, with Verstappen nine behind Norris.

Hamilton bounces back

Lewis Hamilton recovered from 12th on the grid to finish fourth in his first race for Ferrari in Italy.

Hamilton profited from a late-race fight between his teammate Charles