Verstappen wins despite his poor start at Imola during the Sprint

Starting from pole position in this Sprint race, Max Verstappen’s qualifying efforts are reduced to dust due to a very complicated grid start that sees him being overtaken by Charles Leclerc.

If during the first part of the race, the Red Bull driver failed to catch up to the Ferrari, it was during the last five laps of the race that the gap between the two men decreased. Indeed, the Monegasque driver was struggling a lot with his soft tires, which allowed Max Verstappen to get back into his DRS zone before overtaking him in the second-to-last lap of the race.

It was a very bad start. When releasing the clutch, I experienced a lot of vibrations and slipping, and after that, I tried to catch up with Charles but the gap wasn’t changing much.

But after the degradation of the tires became a real factor on Charles’ car, which allowed me to enter his DRS and then overtake him.

It’s a good sign for tomorrow, but with the possibility of changing tires I expect them [Ferrari] to be stronger tomorrow.

Max Verstappen will start first for Sunday’s race. Just behind him, Charles Leclerc and his teammate at Red Bull are following.