2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (Imola) – race results and latest F1 standings

Jamie Woodhouse 19 May 2024 3:32 PM

Fans at Imola.

Lando Norris brought the fight once again, but this time, Max Verstappen had just enough to hold on and win at Imola.

Verstappen and Norris treated us to a thrilling battle for the win, but while Norris got the job done in Miami, this time it was Verstappen who held firm to drive his Red Bull to a fifth win of the season, the gap under a second at the line, as Charles Leclerc completed the podium.

Max Verstappen strikes back against Lando Norris at Imola

Verstappen and Norris both executed ideal launches, but Verstappen would see off that Papaya threat into Tamburello, with Norris shutting the door on an interested Charles Leclerc behind.

Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda and Sergio Perez completed the top 10 and points-paying positions after the start. Perez was the only driver starting on hard tyres in that top 10, with the rest on mediums.

Come Lap 9 Williams’ Alex Albon pitted to ditch his mediums for hards, but slowed as he reported that the tyres were not fitted correctly and had to switch focus to evading the pack steaming through to lap him. He returned to mediums after making it back to the pits and was later given a 10-second stop/go penalty for that release in an unsafe condition.

Norris would pit from P2 on Lap 23, taking on hard tyres, while team-mate Piastri did the same on the following lap and was able to split the Ferraris after the stops were complete, with Verstappen’s lead over Norris standing at just over six seconds at the halfway point.

The McLaren driver, hunting back-to-back wins, would set about whittling down that gap, Verstappen’s buffer reduced to under 2.5s with seven laps to go. Make that 1.5s with five left.

But, Verstappen impressively held on to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, his margin just seven-tenths over Norris at the line.

2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix order

1 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing
2 Lando NORRIS McLaren +0.725 1
3 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +7.916 1
4 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +14.132 1
5 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +22.325 1
6 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +35.104 1
7 George RUSSELL Mercedes +47.154 2
8 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +54.776 1
9 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +79.556 1
10 Yuki TSUNODA RB +1L
11 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team +1L
12 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team +1L
13 Daniel RICCIARDO RB +1L
14 Esteban OCON Alpine +1L
15 Guanyu ZHOU Kick Sauber +1L
16 Pierre GASLY Alpine +1L
17 Logan SARGEANT Williams +1L
18 Valtteri BOTTAS Kick Sauber +1L
19 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +1L
20 Alexander ALBON Williams

Drivers’ Championship

1. Max Verstappen – 161 points
2. Charles Leclerc – 113
3. Sergio Perez – 107
4. Lando Norris – 101
5. Carlos Sainz – 93
6. Oscar Piastri – 53
7. George Russell – 44
8. Lewis Hamilton – 35
9. Fernando Alonso – 33
10. Yuki Tsunoda – 15
11. Lance Stroll – 11
12. Oliver Bearman – 6
13. Nico Hulkenberg – 6
14. Daniel Ricciardo – 5
15. Esteban Ocon – 1
16. Kevin Magnussen – 1
17. Alex Albon – 0
18. Zhou Guanyu – 0
19. Pierre Gasly – 0
20. Valtteri Bottas – 0
21. Logan Sargeant – 0

Constructors’ Championship

1. Red Bull – 268 points
2. Ferrari – 212
3. McLaren – 154
4. Mercedes – 79
5. Aston Martin – 44
6. RB – 20
7. Haas – 7
8. Alpine – 1
9. Williams – 0
10. Sauber – 0