Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: Formula One live race updates, blog

Thanks again for tuning in for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix live here on The Roar and that about wraps up this coverage. An exciting battle for the championship, which'll hopefully continue next time out in Portugal at the Algarve circuit in two weeks time. Ciao!

Thoughts on that one Roarers?

----- CONSTRUCTOR'S ----- 60 -- Mercedes AMG 53 -- Red Bull Racing Honda 41 -- McLaren Mercedes 34 -- Ferrari 7 --- Aston Martin Racing 6 --- Scuderia AlphaTauri 2 --- Alfa Romeo Racing 1 --- Alpine 0 --- Williams Mercedes 0 --- Haas Ferrari

-------- DRIVER'S -------- 44 -- Lewis Hamilton 43 -- Max Verstappen 27 -- Lando Norris 20 -- Charles Leclerc 16 -- Valtteri Bottas 14 -- Carlos Sainz 14 -- Daniel Ricciardo 10 -- Sergio Perez 7 --- Lance Stroll 4 --- Pierre Gasly 2 --- Kimi Räikkönen 2 --- Yuki Tsunoda 1 --- Esteban Ocon 0 --- Fernando Alonso 0 --- Antonio Giovinazzi 0 --- George Russell 0 --- Sebastian Vettel 0 --- Mick Schumacher 0 --- Nikita Mazepin 0 --- Nicholas Latifi

RACE REPORT Max Verstappen opened his wins account for 2021 with a victory in Imola, beating Lewis Hamilton comprehensively by 20 seconds at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The race started in damp conditions, though it did not stop the flying Dutchman who launched himself from the second row of the grid to the lead, heading into the Tamburello chicane. From there, Verstappen was unchallenged for the lead and despite a red flag in the middle of the race – the Red Bull carried on to draw level with Hamilton in the standings. Hamilton made a rare error and was off at Turn 7 on Lap 33, fighting for the dry racing line with Williams’ George Russell. The seven-time world champion was able to reverse his car out of the gravel to re-join the race – though end up a lap off the leader. The race was red flagged on Lap 34, following a high-speed crash between Valtteri Bottas and Russell in which the Williams briefly toured the grass and then in re-joining the track collected the Mercedes. Prior to the rolling restart, the lapped cars were able to unlap themselves – which included Hamilton who was down in ninth. This was contentious given that from there, the Mercedes was able to charge back to second. Rounding out the podium was Lando Norris, who took the gamble at the restart for a set of soft tyres – while the rest of his rivals were on the medium compound. The McLaren held Hamilton behind until Lap 60, though ultimately the faster car made it past. Third, along with sixth from Daniel Ricciardo means that McLaren stays ahead of Ferrari in the constructor’s championship, in their fight for third position. Ferrari meanwhile had a solid race with both their cars to finish fourth and fifth, led by Charles Leclerc. A messy race for Sergio Perez saw him fail to score points, despite starting the race from the front-row. A 10-second time penalty for overtaking under the Safety Car and then touring the gravel, when battling with Sebastian Vettel ultimately kept the Mexican away from his race winning teammate. Vettel as well was forced to retire from the race with the team hoping to save his gearbox. Whilst Williams’ day was made worse with a double retirement, following the early crash from Nicholas Latifi.

STANDBY FOR RACE REPORT & UPDATED STANDINGS

PODIUM INTERVIEWS - Hosted by Martin Brundle VERSTAPPEN - "Very challenging out there, especially at the beginning." "Choosing the right moment to go onto slicks is never easy." "We did a great job." HAMILTON - "Congratulations to Max and Lando." "It was not the greatest of days, first time I've made a mistake in a long time." "Still really had some fun battles." NORRIS - "I'm happy. A nice recovery after yesterday." "I tried hanging onto second, but Lewis was faster than me." "Nice to be fighting these guys on merit." "I'm happy with third."

RESULTS FROM THE 63-LAP EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX 1 M. Verstappen 2 L. Hamilton (Fastest Lap) 3 L. Norris 4 C. Leclerc 5 C. Sainz 6 D. Ricciardo 7 L. Stroll 8 P. Gasly 9 K. Räikkönen 10 E. Ocon 11 F. Alonso 12 S. Perez 13 Y. Tsunoda* 14 A. Giovinazzi 15 S. Vettel 16 M. Schumacher 17 N. Mazepin RET V. Bottas RET G. Russell RET N. Latifi *5-second time penalty to be applied*

MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS THE EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX! It was also an epic comeback from Lewis Hamilton from ninth on the restart to second on the podium. And how about that solid performance for Lando Norris to earn McLaren another trophy with third!

Lap 63/63: FINAL LAP Vettel is brought in by Aston Martin to retire the car with gearbox problems.

Lap 62/63: Another spin for Mazepin at Aqua Minerale.

Lap 61/63: Hamilton sets the fastest lap as well with a 1:16.702 which would give him the point he needs to stay in front of Verstappen in the championship standings.

Lap 60/63: This time Hamilton can get the job done! He goes around the outside of Tamburello and relegates the McLaren of Norris to third. Leclerc is only 1.5 seconds behind and would be salivating at the chance of a taking a podium for Ferrari.

Lap 59/63: Again a look around the outside for Hamilton, though Norris is doing an amazing job to hold his McLaren in front of the seven-time world champion. Some technical gremlins also at play in the McLaren. Verstappen meanwhile has a 20 second lead.