Verstappen passes Leclerc late to win Sprint in Imola

Max Verstappen produced a stunning late pass on Charles Leclerc to take victory in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Sprint and ensure a first-place start for Sunday's race.

Verstappen, who had started ahead of Leclerc after taking pole in a wet qualifying session on Friday, lost his lead at the start as a poor getaway enabled the Ferrari to beat him to the first corner.

To the delight of the partisan Italian crowd, Leclerc looked to be cruising to victory, but his tyres started to wear in the closing stages of the 21-lap race and Verstappen took advantage to strike at the start of the penultimate lap and claim the eight-point reward for first.

"My start was not very good and it took a while to try and put the pressure on," Verstappen said after the Sprint. "We were a bit better on our tyres at the end of the race so I could get into DRS and we had a good fight into Turn 2."

The other Red Bull of Sergio Perez finished third after a solid drive to rise from seventh, while Leclerc's team-mate Carlos Sainz produced a strong recovery to finish fourth having started 10th after crashing out of qualifying.

It was a disappointing race for Mercedes, as George Russell was unable to improve on the 11th place he started the race in, while Lewis Hamilton dropped a position to finish 14th.

McLaren were able to overcome a disastrous Practice Two ahead of the Sprint to seal fifth and sixth for Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, while Valtteri Bottas also put aside his absence from P2 to finish seventh. Kevin Magnussen took the final point-scoring position for Haas in eighth.

After Leclerc passed Verstappen off the line, little more action was able to develop as Guanyu Zhou and Pierre Gasly triggered a Safety Car as they clashed at