Summary and results of Saturday's F1 at Imola: sprint race

Charles Leclerc took the lead at the start when Verstappen , who was starting from pole, suffered a problem with his gears and started poorly.

But defending champion Max Verstappen stayed behind and took advantage of his rival’s increased tire wear to overtake him with two laps to go and take the lead for Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

F1 sprint race results at Imola, Emilia Romagna GP 2022

Cla	Pilot		laps	Weather	Difference	Interval
1	Max Verstappen		21	30’39.567
2	Charles Leclerc		21	30’42.542	2.975	2.975
3	Sergio Perez		twenty-one	30’44.288	4,721	1,746
4	Carlos Sainz Jr.		twenty-one	30’57.145	17,578	12,857
5	Lando Norris		21	31’04.128	24.561	6.983
6	Daniel Ricciardo		21	31’07.307	27.740	3.179
7	Valtteri Bottas		21	31’07.700	28.133	0.393
8	Kevin Magnussen		21	31’10.279	30.712	2.579
9	Fernando Alonso		21	31’11.845	32.278	1.566
10	Mick Schumacher		21	31’13.340	33.773	1.495
11	George Russell		21	31’15.851	36.284	2.511
12	Yuki Tsunoda		twenty one	31’17.865	38.298	2.014
13	Sebastian Vettel		21	31’19.744	40.177	1.879
14	Lewis Hamilton		21	31’21.026	41.459	1.282
15	Lance Stroll		21	31’22.477	42.910	1.451
16	Esteban Ocon		21	31’23.084	43.517	0.607
17	Pierre Gasly		21	31’23,361	43,794	0.277
18	Alexander Albon		21	31’28.438	48.871	5.077
19	Nicholas Latifi		21	31’31.584	52.017	3.146
	Guanyu Zhou		0
see results

How the F1 2022 Emilia Romagna GP sprint race unfolded

Making a slow start from pole, Verstappen was easily overtaken by Leclerc, with Lando Norris third and Kevin Magnussen (Haas), on medium tyres, keeping the pack behind and receiving a black and white flag for weaving down the straights to fend off Sergio. Perez.

On the first lap, Guanyu Zhou crashed the Alfa Romeo after a contact with Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri at Piratella , causing the safety car to go out.

Leclerc led ahead of Verstappen and Norris on the lap 5 restart. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz , which had failed in qualifying and started 10th, moved up to seventh by passing Alonso ‘s Alpine on lap 7.

Leclerc stayed out of Verstappen’s DRS range by building a 1.5sec lead. Behind them, Sergio Perez with DRS passed Magnussen for fourth on lap 8 and Norris for third on lap 11, while Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari also passed Magnussen. Sainz then snatched fifth from Ricciardo on lap 14 and fourth from Norris on lap 19.

In the final five laps, Verstappen entered Leclerc’s DRS range as the Ferrari began to suffer from tire graining. Verstappen would take victory on the penultimate lap, passing Leclerc with DRS on the way to the Tamburello chicane, and then pulled away to win by nearly three seconds.

Pérez finished third ahead of Sainz, Norris and Ricciardo . Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo passed Fernando Alonso and Magnussen for seventh, with Mick Schumacher’s second Haas completing the top 10.

Fastest F1 sprint race laps at Imola, Emilia Romagna GP 2022

Cla	Pilot		Weather	Difference	Interval	Km/h
1	Sergio Perez		1’19.012			223,667
2	Charles Leclerc		1’19.044	0.032	0.032	223.576
3	Max Verstappen		1’19.154	0.142	0.110	223.266
4	Carlos Sainz Jr.		1’19,251	0.239	0.097	222,992
5	Lando Norris		1’20.030	1.018	0.779	220.822
6	Valtteri Bottas		1’20.219	1.207	0.189	220.301
7	Daniel Ricciardo		1’20.328	1.316	0.109	220.002
8	Kevin Magnussen		1’20.557	1.545	0.229	219.377
9	Mick Schumacher		1’20.567	1.555	0.010	219.350
10	Pierre Gasly		1’20,599	1,587	0.032	219,263
11	Fernando Alonso		1’20.639	1.627	0.040	219.154
12	Lewis Hamilton		1’20.663	1.651	0.024	219.089
13	George Russell		1’20.756	1.744	0.093	218.836
14	Yuki Tsunoda		1’20.909	1.897	0.153	218.423
15	Lance Stroll		1’20.948	1.936	0.039	218.317
16	Esteban Ocon		1’20.995	1.983	0.047	218.191
17	Alexander Albon		1’21.020	2.008	0.025	218.123
18	Sebastian Vettel		1’21.044	2.032	0.024	218.059
19	Nicholas Latifi		1’21.437	2.425	0.393	217.007
see results