2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Highlights: Epic battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris
Verstappen and Norris were locked in a heated front-row duel during Sunday's race. On Sunday, the reigning Formula 1 champion won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix by edging off Lando Norris of McLaren, despite the fact that the two drivers were almost neck and neck for the whole duration of the race.
Source: formula1.com
“Especially in the final ten to fifteen laps, I lost all grip. A lot of sliding happened to me. "I noticed Lando drawing near," Verstappen remarked. There's no room for error when the tires are flat and you have to give it your all, so I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes. Luckily, we didn’t, and super happy, of course, to win here today.”
Norris gave it his all throughout the race, pushing Verstappen to his limits. The McLaren driver had a solid effort, and finishing in second place was a fantastic victory. It was clear that McLaren was the team that could fight Red Bull and Verstappen this season. Even though it's painful for Norris to admit, he believes he might have won the race with only a couple more laps. "Today was not the day for it, though, it would have been lovely."
The local audience and the Ferrari crew were filled with joy as Leclerc finished third. Despite getting off to a great start, he showed outstanding skills by pushing himself to his limits and earning a podium place in the Ferrari home race.
Following a penalty for obstructing Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, Oscar Piastri was demoted from second place in qualifying to fifth place for McLaren. While Sainz was in the pits, he passed the Spanish driver and ended in fourth place.
Through a setback, Hamilton was able to hold off Perez, who started in eleventh place on the grid and was using an inverted tire strategy, in the closing circuits. After a challenging weekend for Mercedes, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his teammate George Russell finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Several more drivers also had impressive races. As a result of Yuki Tsunoda's final-place performance, the Visa Cash App RB driver has now finished in the points for two races in a row. This is a huge win for Tsunoda, who has put in a lot of time and effort this season to improve his performance and consistency throughout the season.
For Williams, it was a terrible day. It was a bad start from the get-go since the crew mismanaged Albon's early pit stop. After being let out of the pits, Albon realized something was wrong and proceeded to return to the pits by carefully making his way around the circuit. The stewards looked into whether Albon's team knew his car wasn't safe to race again after the first pit stop after he fell a lap down. Later on, Albon was penalized for an unsafe release, which resulted in a 10-second penalty. He eventually retired 12 laps before the race's end.
With a score of 136–103, Verstappen has taken a 33-point lead over Perez in the drivers' standings. Fifth place goes to Leclerc, who has 98 points, fifteen more than Norris and Sainz combined. The last three races have accounted for 64 of Norris' 83 points. Tune in for a thrilling race with a more challenging circuit this weekend in Monaco Grand Prix!
