Verstappen confirms his candidacy with Carlos Sainz fifth and Fernando Alonso tenth | Formula 1

Max Verstappen prevails in the madness of Imola. The Red Bull driver signs his first victory of the year and confirms his candidacy to win the World Championship in a race in which absolutely everything happened: start to remember, accidents, fifth red flag of the weekend … Good performance by Carlos Sainz , who starred in his first great afternoon as a Ferrari driver on a circuit so special to Maranello. Fifth place for the Madrilenian and tenth for Fernando Alonso, who finally adds points after the suspension of Kimi Raikkonen. Lewis Hamilton re-engaged in the race after the red flag. He had made an atypical mistake on him just before Bottas and Russel’s brutal accident, but the seven-time world champion flew off at the restart and signed a highly deserving second place. Lando Norris completed the podium after a great weekend from the young McLaren driver. We already knew it before the race, but Imola confirmed it again: the Formula 1 revolution is here and the year is going to be beautiful. Max Verstappen 🏆 WINS 🏆 at Imola! Lewis Hamilton comes home second with Lando Norris taking the final podium place 👏 #ImolaGP 🇮🇹 # F1 pic.twitter.com/k2bRCGyS7J – Formula 1 (@ F1) April 18, 2021Imola hosted the second round of the Formula 1 World Championship after a spectacular classification. Many could think that the Great Circus was still exactly the same as in recent years seeing Lewis Hamilton on pole, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Briton had achieved his first pole position on the legendary Italian circuit after a passionate fight with the Red Bulls and with Lando Norris’ McLaren, whose last lap was disqualified.The Spanish had not had a great classification and, as Alonso said, things had to happen in the race so that he could get into the points. The first requirement for this was fulfilled: the rain was falling hard in Imola before starting the race, providing a favorable setting to see a great motorsport race. Points in which visibility was really low, scares in the formation lap, the Spaniards wanting to vindicate themselves … the second race of the season promised a lot. And it did not disappoint. Verstappen gave his chest C at the start The rain fell on the asphalt as all eyes turned to Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the start. Without forgetting the great guest to the fight for the first position in Imola, a Checo Pérez who was the main protagonist on Saturday after signing the best classification of his career. However, the duel was between the seven-time world champion and Mad Max, who wants to win this World Cup and this year he does have a car for it. The two giants touched in an outing to remember, in which Verstappen was erected as the great winner against a naive Hamilton, who was overtaken by the interior and gave the first position to the first exchange. In addition, the touch left him some problems in the car. The race was poetically facing Verstappen in the rain of Imola, face and cross for the Spanish at the start. Good performance by Carlos Sainz, who cut to eighth position in a good start for the Ferraris, with Charles Leclerc in third position. For his part, Fernando Alonso lost positions until the seventeenth.It seemed that the Grand Prix was going to be very complicated for the Asturian, but few like him get such performance out of his car. Red flag after the accident of Russell and Bottas The race had just started and Imola reserved an unexpected script that was going to lengthen a lot the time of the Grand Prix: if first it was a safety car caused by a Lafiti accident, then the race had to be interrupted due to a red flag caused by a dangerous accident between Bottas and Russell. As if that were not enough, Hamilton went off the track and lost many positions. All the pilots were going to the pit lane after the accident of Bottas and Russell. The race started again, although this time there was not going to be a second start, but a rolling star. The opportunity was historic for both Leclerc and Lando Norris, second and third respectively at the restart. Carlos Sainz also had podium options from fifth, with Fernando Alonso close to the twelfth points zone. The rolling star was not the most exciting, but it was the most fair to decide who was going to win a totally crazy Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The fight for the podium, the great protagonist Max Verstappen was again the fastest at the restart. In fact, the winner of the race signed a most complete performance: great start, great strategy in Red Bull’s race and just one mistake, the one that almost cost him the victory in the rolling star. With Verstappen flying in the first position, everything centered on the fight for the podium: Lando Norris placed second, Leclerc third and Carlos Sainz fourth. It seemed that Ferrari could eat the cake, but Lewis Hamilton appeared. And Hamilton pulled out his HAMMER! 🔨 # ImolaDAZNF1 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com / qiNhAIJwkn – DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) April 18, 2021 The seven-time world champion began his particular comeback until he got very close to Lando Norris. He also passed the British to confirm a spectacular restart after the red flag. Verstappen’s first victory in the World Championship, with a heroic Hamilton second and maintaining the World Championship lead and Lando Norris completing a podium of much merit.