Verstappen wins at Imola in Red Bull's 400th race

IMOLA, Italy :Max Verstappen took a dominant victory at Imola on Sunday to celebrate Red Bull's 400th grand prix and end Formula One leader Oscar Piastri's run of three wins in a row for McLaren.

Australian Piastri started on pole but finished third, overtaken at the start around the outside in a brilliant move by Verstappen and then passed by teammate Lando Norris on fresher tyres seven laps from the end.

Piastri's championship lead over Norris was trimmed from 16 points to 13 after seven rounds.

The victory was Verstappen's 65th, second of the season and the four-times world champion's fourth in a row at the Italian circuit near Bologna after 2021, 2022 and 2024. There was no race in 2023 due to flooding.

"The start itself wasn't particularly great but I was still on the outside line, the normal line, so I was like 'well I'm going to try and send it around the outside' and it worked really well," said the Dutch driver.

"Of course, that unleashed our pace because when we were in the lead, the car was good. I could look after my tyres."

Team boss Christian Horner described Verstappen's attitude as "win it or bin it".

BRAKED TOO EARLY

Piastri had started the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as favourite for a fourth win in a row, and fifth in seven races but events went against him.

A virtual safety car, triggered by Esteban Ocon stopping his Haas halfway through the race, came after his first early pitstop.

"It's never a great day when you start first and finish third," said Piastri, who felt he had opened the door to Verstappen by braking too early.

"You're going to have tough days in the championship, and this is clearly one of them. So as long as we learn the lessons, that's all I can ask."

A later safety car after Mercedes rookie Kimi