Here Are The Winners And Losers From F1’s First European GP Of The Season

If you thought the 2021 Formula One season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix had drama, the Emilia Romagna Grand Grand Prix at Imola was chaos personified. It had everything you’d think of for a thrilling F1 race, including wet conditions, crashes, surprise results, and intense fights up and down the grid. Ultimately, the Red Bull Honda of Max Verstappen came out on top, but Lewis Hamilton still leads the championship. Here are those that shined and the ones that came up short in this action-packed Grand Prix: 

Winners 

Max Verstappen

After a messy qualifier that saw Max Verstappen line up third on the grid, he very much made up for that right off the line, muscling his way past polesitter and title rival Lewis Hamilton into Turn 2. After that, the Red Bull Honda driver never looked back, eventually picking up the win amid many safety cars and a red flag stoppage. 

Despite a single race win and a second-place finish (like primary championship challenger Lewis Hamilton), Max is only a point behind, considering he bagged the fastest lap and earned a point in the process. Nevertheless, as things are as of now, we could be treated to a classic Max vs Lewis battle. 

Lando Norris 

McLaren’s Lando Norris was on fire the entire weekend and would’ve lined up third on the grid were it not for his lap time that was deleted for exceeding track limits. Starting seventh on the grid, Norris scythed through the field, and was running a strong second before Hamilton got the better of him with just three laps to go. Nonetheless, he more than made up for his qualifier upset with his second ever F1 podium in third position. 

Lewis Hamilton 

It was a race of two halves for the reigning 7-time world driver’s champion at Imola. Starting on pole, the Mercedes driver lost the lead to Verstappen into turn 2, and slightly damaged his front wing in the process. But he still kept the Red Bull Honda driver honest throughout the first half of the race. A rookie error on his part into the Tosa hairpin saw him damage his front wing, dropping all the way down to ninth after changing his front wing. He benefited from the carnage caused by fellow Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas, and Williams’ George Russell, unlapping himself at the restart. The Brit clawed his way right back up the field, and managed a fantastic recovery drive to second place at the chequered flag. An extra point gained by setting the fastest lap keeps him in the lead of the driver’s standings over Verstappen by a single point.

Losers 

Valtteri Bottas  

While Lewis Hamilton managed to recover from a costly mistake, his teammate Valtteri Bottas had it all go wrong right from qualifying a shocking eighth on the grid. He struggled throughout the first half of the race, unable to really make progress through the midfield. His poor weekend culminated at the half-way point of the race, when a coming together with Russell took both of them out of the race. A significant setback for the Finn’s 2021 title bid and perhaps even his seat for 2022?

George Russell

It was all looking rosy for Williams and George Russell, running in a fairly comfortable 10th place at the halfway point of the race. But an opportunistic overtake attempt for ninth on Bottas went horribly wrong, as Russell hit wet grass, lost control and immediately swiped into the Mercedes, taking them both out of the race. While Russell and Bottas may have been at disagreement about who was to blame, it was yet another costly incident for Russell at Imola when he was running in a points-scoring position.

Sergio Perez

It seemed like Sergio Perez finally settled in at Red Bull Honda, qualifying 2nd and beating teammate Max Verstappen. But the race was where the positivity ended. He dropped to fourth early on,  and then a costly infringement in safety car conditions got him a 10-second penalty. He was in for a shot at a top five finish for sure, perhaps even a podium at the restart, but a spin dropped him to 14th. He did recover to 11th in the end, but it was a very rocky end to what looked like a positive weekend. 

AlphaTauri

The Emilia Romagna Grand Grand Prix was meant to be a prime hunting ground for the AlphaTauri squad since they ran really well in 2020. But Yuki Tsunoda’s early crash in Q1 meant Pierre Gasly was the sole flag bearer. Nonetheless, he qualified a strong fifth. Unfortunately, a gamble for full wets turned out to be the wrong call as Gasly dropped down the field pretty quickly. That being said, the Frenchman did manage to recover to seventh place, thanks to Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll incurring a time penalty for an illegal overtake. As for teammate Yuki Tsunoda, he made his way up to tenth from the back of the grid around the half-way mark. But a costly spin at the restart dropped him right down to last place. He eventually recovered to 12th place in the end. Overall missed opportunities for AlphaTauria for a big points haul.