General overview
Imola delighted us for another year, with a very entertaining race full of twists and turns. Given what happened on Sunday, it is almost a pity that this appointment cannot be held again in the coming years, being a very technical, narrow track, where it is complex to overtake and where the driver counts a lot. And it is precisely in appointments of this kind that Verstappen shows off, who, with a sensational overtaking at the start and careful tire management, helped also by the first virtual safety car, took home the splendid first-place trophy. With him on the podium were the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri. Behind a somewhat colorless day for the Mercedes cars, excellent Williams, still in the points and of a completely different caliber than in qualifying, were the two Ferraris, which finished in fourth and sixth position. On the upswing for the Maranello team after Saturday’s difficult qualifying, which was the second force in the field according to the ranking chart behind the McLarens. In fact, for Red Bull, it weighs the race of Tsunoda, who started from the back, otherwise he would be further ahead in the ranking chart. Quite explanatory violin plots with Verstappen the absolute starter, McLaren never in contention with the Red Bull Dutchman and Ferrari that in Leclerc’s second stint was very effective in the first laps, managing to hit a great undercut and being perhaps in contention for the podium before the safety car that cancelled, after the first Virtual Safety Car the ambitions of the Monegasque. Smiling, however, is the other Ferrari of Hamilton, who instead hit fourth place, favored by the VSC and SC regimes and with a sequence of laps comparable to those of the two McLarens, who preceded him to the finish line.
Race strategy
Very complex strategies and not common to all drivers for the double intervention of the VSC and SC. On paper, to hold court on the eve of the race was the choice between single or double stop, the latter somewhat ostracized because of the time lost in the long pit lane of the Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari. But the double regime of VSC and SC nullified all strategies by primarily benefiting the drivers who lengthened the first stint, first among all Verstappen, who found himself with more than 20 seconds to manage on Norris, penalizing instead the first ones to change, in particular Leclerc. The latter was further disadvantaged, somewhat like Piastri, by the SC toward the end of the race as he completed the final laps on tires much more worn than his direct rivals, dropping from fourth to sixth place.
Focus on drivers’ lap times
The analysis of the lap times shows a clear picture of the race event. In the first stint, Verstappen took immediately to the lead overtaking Piastri at the start and taking advantage of the clean air in front, he was able to manage quietly, extending the first stint and changing tires under VSC. Of note, however, was the strategy of Leclerc who greatly anticipated the first stop but accomplice the small group in front of him with several drivers bunched in a few seconds he was able to make a resounding undercut bringing himself to the foot of the podium, except then being disadvantaged by the VSC and SC. In the second stint, he was in fact on a race pace comparable to those ahead of him. After the VSC, they all changed tires again, and it was at that moment that Verstappen gained the advantage, bringing himself to more than 20 seconds from the pursuers. The SC, towards the end of the race, penalized in particular Leclerc and Piastri, who did not change tires, but it benefited Hamilton a lot, who had a very robust pace that led him to fourth position. In the last stint, the worst race pace was by Leclerc and Piastri; Verstappen was in absolute control while the others, in particular Hamilton and Albon, were in a tussle, thus favoring the strange regression line visible on the graph, a sign of an unsteady pace with wide deviation.
Conclusions
Next stop in Monaco on a City circuit. We are in the Principality, on the most glamorous weekend of the year in F1, where 90% of the performance in qualifying will count since it is virtually impossible to overtake on the track. It is easy to expect a complex weekend for the Ferraris, heavily penalized in qualifying for not being able to succeed in centering the tire usage window. It remains to be seen whether the requirement of two pit stops will enliven things a bit.