F1 sprint race

World champion will start P1 on Sunday and claimed championship eight points, while Lewis Hamilton struggled with his Mercedes and will begin in 14th.

With the victory Verstappen has secured pole for Sunday a potentially vital achievement at Imola where overtaking is difficult. It was a bravura move, perfectly executed and the sort of racing the sprint race has long needed. He was third several laps later, an impressive run and vital for Red Bull so he can play his part in the race tomorrow. Max Verstappen won the sprint race for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola and in doing so secured pole for Sunday’s race. Out front however while Leclerc was in control, Verstappen closed in the final four laps to within a second. Both Hamilton and Russell struggled to make any headway through the field, unsurprisingly with a tricky can on a track where overtaking is far from easy.

Max Verstappen won the first Sprint of 2022 having passed Charles Leclerc with two laps remaining, to ensure a first-place start for Sunday's Emilia Romagna ...

The championship leader skated away, Verstappen in tow. Green-flag racing would resume on Lap 5, Leclerc leading Verstappen then Norris at the time. Friday's wet qualifying session set the grid for this Sprint, Verstappen having taken pole position over Leclerc with Lando Norris leading Kevin Magnussen off the second row. Gearbox issues put Esteban Ocon 19th for the start of the Sprint and he made up three places for P16 in the Alpine, keeping Gasly – who collided with Zhou at the start and pitted for a nose change – 17th. Magnussen held on for the final point, finishing ahead of Alpine's Fernando Alonso in P9 – who started fifth but couldn't contend with his rivals' pace on the softs – and the other Haas of Mick Schumacher, who took P10 on mediums. It was Leclerc, to a rapturous reception from the tifosi, who took the lead off Verstappen as the lights went out – only for the Safety Car to interrupt proceedings as Zhou Guanyu (DNF) and Pierre Gasly (P19) made contact through Turn 9 on Lap 1.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen overthrew Charles Leclerc late on to win the first sprint race of the 2022 Formula 1 season at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

And Perez kept putting the slipstream out of the final corner for the run into the chicane to good use as he then copied the manoeuvre on Norris with the help of DRS to climb to third. That brought Verstappen close out of Rivazza and gave him the slipstream, which combined with DRS, allowed him to make his move around the outside into Tamburello. Leclerc gave his rival space at the first apex, and Verstappen kept within the painted lines to make the move stick before romping to a 1.5s lead before sealing the win by 2.9s. Leclerc had not made an error, as Verstappen brought the gap below a second and then used DRS and the slipstream out of the final corner to bring the difference down to half a second. Leclerc settled a little over the 1s threshold for three tours and then on lap seven, set what was at the time the fastest lap of the race to stretch his cushion to 1.5s over the RB18. With the aid of DRS and as his Ferrari rival battled oversteer, Verstappen dived around the outside into Tamburello and kept his car on track to take the win and pole for the full GP on Sunday. Leclerc had nailed his launch and with the kink on the main straight placing him on the inside, he could sprint past a wheel-spinning Verstappen to seize first into Tamburello.

But there was further misery for Lewis Hamilton after he started 13th and finished only 14th. Sergio Perez took third ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, with ...

The first practice session was pretty wet and the qualifying session (the traditional hour-long three part one) went from drying to damp. It always is and it always is this time of year. and the Ferrari has quite a bit of clipping at the end of the straight. The back of the pack are very slow to form up. Gasly has dropped to the back and has a front right puncture. But dropping down the order is not much of a help, is it? Sainz sets after Magnussen and with the aid of DRS. He goes around the outside and is into sixth. Leclerc has stretched his lead a little with the fastest lap of the race. He gets a bit of a wobble on in Rivazza 2. I think we were a bit better on our tyres towards the end of the race. Red Bull now into second ahead of Mercedes. 14 points for the Bulls and none for Mercedes will do that. A good fight for the lead and a fair bit of action down the track too.

Leclerc, struggling with tyre wear, came home second ahead of Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull, Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari and Lando Norris of McLaren ...

On Lando’s side, we experienced a brake system issue when he did his first run,” McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl told Sky Sports of the problem. This collision prompted a Safety Car intervention while the debris was cleared. “I had a very bad start with too much wheel spin,” said Verstappen. “I had to stay calm. By lap 11, Leclerc led by 1.4 seconds with Perez charging through to third, six seconds adrift, Norris fourth and a charging Ricciardo up to fifth ahead of Sainz, also on a charge for Ferrari, and Magnussen. Mercedes struggled again despite an improved showing in second practice. “I pushed hard at the beginning to try and not be too vulnerable with Max having the DRS behind, and I feel like I’ve paid the price of doing that at the end of the race,” he said.

Max Verstappen said the Emilia Romagna Formula 1 sprint turned into a 'waiting game' for him once it became clear race leader Charles Leclerc was suffering ...

But yeah, clearly, we had a bit more pace at the end of the race." "My start was just terrible. "Of course with these cars, it is better to follow.

Results from the sprint F1 qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Round 4 of the 2022 F1 world championship.

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Formula 1's first sprint race of 2022, at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, had action from start to finish – even if the top two did end up in the same ...

Alonso described the result as disappointing, and a “lost” opportunity to score points. Sainz was always going to storm through after the restart, but Alonso couldn’t make a meaningful impression on Magnussen thereafter – which left him vulnerable to the attack from Bottas that cost him a point. Comfortably last of the finishers, even after Gasly’s pitstop spotted both a position. Will it bother Mercedes that Ferrari has pulled further clear and Red Bull has jumped ahead in the standings as a result of the sprint? Having dropped far enough back to stay out of damaging dirty air in the middle phase, his late-race charge backed Leclerc into a corner. He lost the lead at the start.