Verstappen can win even when the odds are stacked against him
Max Verstappen has won the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after holding back a late charge from McLaren’s Lando Norris proved futile in the closing stages.
During one of the Friday practice sessions, the Dutchman had struggled with his car’s setup all weekend, even going wide into the gravel at Acque Minerale.
However, he turned it around on Saturday, taking pole position by less than a tenth from the chasing papaya pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Verstappen said: "It’s been a really difficult weekend so far, even this morning.
“I’m incredibly happy to be on pole here, I didn’t expect that.
“We made some final changes before qualifying, they seemed to make it feel a bit better so I could push a bit harder.
“This track is unbelievable, on a qualifying lap, to be on the limit here, close to the gravel... I touched the gravel in the last corner. I’m still pumping, the adrenaline is very, very high.”
During the Grand Prix, the Red Bull Racing driver seemed to leave his previous woes behind as he assumed a comfortable lead.
Then with ten laps remaining, he started experiencing tyre wear issues that allowed Norris to catch up, with the Englishman gaining one second per lap at times.
As the chasing McLaren grew closer and closer to Verstappen, his tyres started to go off, and it took until the final lap before he got within DRS range.
This made it impossible to complete an overtake, and Norris missed a chance to claim back-to-back maiden and second victories following his debut triumph at the Miami Grand Prix.
Following the race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner praised the team’s simulator driver Sébastien Buemi who helped them find solutions for the setup.
An ex-Le Mans winner, Formula E champion and Toro Rosso competitor during the early 2010s, Buemi spent eleven hours between the second and third preparation sessions experimenting to find fixes for the team’s predicament.
Winning in Imola proves the idea that Verstappen, similarly to the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher that came before, can prevail even when his car isn’t up to scratch.
McLaren’s upgrades shift the tide
As previously mentioned, Norris finished in the runner-up position in a good showing for his team following the introduction of a new upgrade package this weekend.
His teammate Oscar Piastri finished in a distant fourth place following a grid penalty for impeding Haas driver Kevin Magnussen during the first qualifying session on Saturday.
McLaren is rebounding following a win at the previous race in Miami where even without the problems that befell Verstappen, it’s believed he would’ve still taken victory.
Norris said: “I think we’re at a point now where we can happily say we’re in the position of Ferrari and Red Bull, so it’s what we have to get used to.
“But the team are all doing a very good job so it’s business as usual, we’re just fighting for first or second now.
“It’s still a surprise to say it’s frustrating not to win but after the improvements we made last weekend it’s what we should expect.”
The papaya outfit has now established superiority over Ferrari as the second-fastest constructor behind a now not-so-dominant Red Bull, as we move to the next race of the season in Monaco.
Given the tight street circuit’s overtaking problems in recent years, another misstep from the leading Austrian team could allow an underdog such as Norris or Piastri to prevail.
Perez could be back to his mistake-ridden ways
A prominent feature of the 2023 F1 season was Sergio Perez finding every way possible to underperform in the best car on the grid.
He had it all, from embarrassing qualifying exits in nine of the 22 rounds last year to errors in Suzuka and his home race in Mexico City.
However, he has cleaned up his act in the first six races of 2024 by taking four podiums and retaining second place in the drivers' standings.
But this weekend in Imola, Perez failed to advance to Q3 in 11th place, 0.6 seconds behind pole-sitting teammate Verstappen.
He only recovered to eighth on race day, hampered by a mistake where the Mexican went into the gravel trap at the first Rivazza corner and suffered damage.
Perez said after qualifying: "I think it's just a very tricky track.
"It was good to see Max made a lot of progress, and I felt from my side that the car was getting better.
“But unfortunately, we just didn't get to show it.
"It's a shame when I see Max up there we definitely had the pace to do a lot more today."
Perez needs to fight back and get a good result at the next event of the season in the Principality to not fall into the same slump he did last year.
High hopes for Haas failed to materialise
Nico Hulkenberg managed to qualify in tenth place for the race in Emilia Romagna, a full second clear of his teammate Kevin Magnussen who was knocked out of Qualifying 1 in a lowly 18th.
The 36-year-old German has received much praise for his driving this year, which prompted the Sauber team to sign him on for 2025 ahead of its impending transition into an Audi works team.
His impressive form continued in Imola, as while Magnussen failed to advance from the first qualifying session, Hulkenberg put his car P3.
His Q1 time was less than a tenth slower than the fastest set by Verstappen, then confidently advanced to the third session in seventh place.
However, he lost a significant amount of pace where it mattered in the final part of the qualification process, losing nearly half a second from his previous best.
Nonetheless, he still dominated his teammate, although Magnussen recovered to 12th place in the race, in a rare quiet event for the Dane.
He has recently come under fire for his aggressive racing conduct, particularly during the Miami Grand Prix event which saw him extend his penalty points tally.
After his battle for position with Lewis Hamilton during the Sprint, he accumulated his tenth penalty point of 12 permitted before he triggers a race ban.
With more than half the season remaining he is treading on eggshells to make sure he does not supersede the limit and incur a suspension.