Max Verstappen wins another Grand Prix as he takes out the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, but it wasn’t as easy as it has been it a lot of the last few seasons, with Lando Norris pressuring him at the end. Talking of pressure here is our 2024 Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix Result Summary which covers both races and anything else of interest.
This 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
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2024 Emilia Romagna GP Preview
Our 2024 F1 Calendar & Results
Our 2023 Full Season Reviews
2024 Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – Max Verstappen takes pole position again, pulling out a pole lap from seemingly nowhere, as he looked to be out of sorts for a lot of the weekend. His nearest challengers were the McLarens and Ferrari with Oscar Piastri second best but dropped three places for impeding Kevin Magnussen. Further back the RBs look like they are close to being genuinely faster than Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda was 2nd in Q2 and Daniel Ricciardo made Q3 for the first time this season. Nico Hulkenberg also showed some speed during qualifying. Fernando Alonso had a shocker, crashing in P3 and missing the Q1 cut.
Talking raceday, the Italian National Anthem sung by kids with a violin accompanying is plenty good. Plus a change in the commentary box as David Croft takes the weekend off. It might be a slightly quieter start to a Grand Prix then.
GRID (Starting Order) – VER NOR LEC SAI PIA RUS TSU HAM RIC HUL
Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets away OK and Lando Norris, who looks to get a slightly better start, threatens for a hundred metres or so to challenge but falls into line into the first chicane. Falling into line is the rest of the top five and it’s down to Lewis Hamilton in 7th for the first movement from the grid position. Nico Hulkenberg delays his Sunday slide backwards through the field by climbing to 8th ahead of Tsunoda. Sergio Perez gets ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who loses a few places off the start as per usual. Everyone else behaves, and even Logan Sargeant is ahead of Fernando Alonso in 19th. For now.
ORDER – VER NOR LEC SAI PIA RUS HAM HUL TSU PER
Lap 4 – The top five staying as is, but Lando Norris is hanging on to the back of Max Verstappen, staying around the one second mark behind. Oscar Piastri is harassing Carlos Sainz. McLarens looks quick, and maybe it’s Piastri’s turn to get lucky from fifth on the grid.
Lap 7 – Nothing further to report on here really. Max Verstappen edges out further to Lando Norris to 1.8 seconds, with similar gaps back through the Ferraris. Only Oscar Piastri is within a second of the car in front of the front runners. Hopefully Oscar remembers the Sainz-Miami shenanigans, but if he can get past he looks to have super pace.
Lap 10 – Alex Albon pits for tyres, and moments after his exit is shown to be crawling around the circuit, with a loose wheel perhaps. He pits the next lap for four tyres and four wheel nuts. That might be unfair to the Williams pit crew. Maybe not, by Lap 17 the FIA stewards are investigating.
Lap 12 – Both RBs pit where Ricciardo wins something for a change and is the first RB driver to get serviced. They rejoin in 15th/16th but have clean air to go at their own speed, which is hopefully top six speed. It was fast enough for Yuki Tsunoda as he leapfrogs Nico Hulkenberg after the Haas made its pitstop.
Lap 17 – The top five remains unchanged, as does the TV footage too, as the Ferrari of Sainz continues to lead the McLaren of Piastri. It doesn’t help the perception of a dull race if you show the same thing for so long.
Lap 18 – The Sainz-Piastri battle is broken up with footage of Sergio Perez running wide into the gravel. That won’t help his cause for all those F1 fans calling for #PerezOut.
ORDER – VER NOR LEC SAI PIA RUS HAM PER STR OCO
Lap 21 – Max Verstappen says on team radio that one of his front tyres is no good. Maybe it will fall off and we will have a race on our hands.
Lap 23 – Lando Norris pits from second, so the first of the heavy hitters. Bad news for Norris is that he ends up behind Sergio Perez. A lap later Norris flies past into the first chicane and resumes his afternoon as second best. Oscar Piastri pits on the same lap and comes out behind Lance Stroll. Similar to Norris, a lap later Piastri has gained a place and is in front of Stroll. Again similar, Norris and Piastri trade a fastest lap.
Lap 25 – Leader Max Verstappen pits and the Red Bull comes out in fourth behind the Ferraris and the Hamilton Mercedes. A lap later Charles Leclerc pits and he comes out behind Sergio Perez. He’s not behind for long as a lap later the Ferrari overtakes the number two Red Bull, as Piastri does a lap after that. With their pace they have probably jumped Sainz. Which is exactly the case when Sainz pits on Lap 27, the Ferrari ends up behind Leclerc, Piastri and Perez.
ORDER – VER NOR LEC PIA PER SAI RUS STR HAM MAG
Lap 29 – Replays of a pair of good overtaking moves by Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg on Logan Sargeant. Which is a surprise. Sargeant is still circulating.
Lap 31 – Both Sainz and George Russell have got past Sergio Perez now, with Perez realistically racing Daniel Ricciardo for the last Championship point. He is an un-pitted 7th, Ricciardo has pitted once and is 14th.
Lap 35 – Just over half distance and Max Verstappen still leads and has over six seconds in his back pocket to Lando Norris who is complaining on the radio about the car’s pace. The only foreseeable battle on offer for the rest of the race will be Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri for the final podium spot. Lewis Hamilton v Sergio Perez rages for a lap or so, with Red Bull ensuring Perez loses as many places and as much track position by keeping him out on track. The Mexican finally pits on lap 38 and he drops to 11th and behind Ricciardo.
ORDER – VER NOR LEC PIA SAI RUS HAM TSU HUL RIC
Lap 40 – Perez gets in front of Daniel Ricciardo for the final point. Then Perez makes it past Nico Hulkenberg for another point. He’ll get Tsunoda before time too. He should, he has the best car. He does on Lap 42. The Mexican is now on one of those rolls he gets into on a Sunday from time to time. Usually after stuffing up qualifying.
Lap 42 – Lando Norris is on the radio advising that he is struggling for pace. It shows in the lap times as Leclerc closes to within a second of Norris. At least we have a battle to watch and attempt to shake off the sleep nods as the clock on this side of the world passes midnight.
Lap 44 – Fernando Alonso sets fastest lap from 19th place. Lance Stroll gets past Ricciardo and Hulkenberg to take 10th. By Lap 51 Stroll is up to 9th. A good run for Aston Martin then.
Lap 48 – The Norris-Leclerc battle has settled down a bit with 15 laps to go. Verstappen is six seconds out in front and cruising. Piastri and Sainz are slowly drifting back
ORDER – VER NOR LEC PIA SAI RUS HAM PER TSU STR
Lap 51 – Norris has reduced the gap from over six seconds to under five seconds, and Verstappen admits that his tyres aren’t working great. Do we have a sensational finish coming. By Lap 54 the gap is 3.7 seconds. So the answer is maybe. And hope so.
Lap 53 – Mercedes even seems bored by the race and pit George Russell for new tyres. He comes out 7th, so only drops one spot behind his team mate. He sets a fastest lap on lap 54 which will give him one of the two points he lost by pitting.
Lap 55 – Lando Norris takes a full second out of Max Verstappen’s lead and is now just 2.4 seconds behind the Red Bull. The race for the lead is on. Stand by for a 2024 sensation.
Lap 57 – Lando Norris continues to close, with six laps to go the gap is 1.6 seconds. DRS is available soon at this pace.
Lap 59 – Lando Norris drops back slightly from Max Verstappen, so looks like the battle for the lead is over without a mistake being made.
Lap 61 – Three laps to go and Lando Norris finds a little more time, the gap back to 1.3 seconds now. 1.1 seconds by the end of the lap, and Verstappen is running out of battery.
Lap 62 – Lando Norris almost runs wide into the gravel in his efforts to steal first place from Verstappen. He just fails to get within a second on the final DRS opportunity.
FINAL LAP – Norris does get within a second as they tour around the Imola circuit for the final time, but it is not enough, and Max Verstappen holds on for another 2024 win, but only just. Another fine showing from Lando Norris who finishes second and McLaren in general as Oscar Piastri finishes 4th too. Leclerc takes the final podium spot with Carlos Sainz 5th.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER NOR LEC PIA SAI HAM RUS PER STR TSU
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS
Second best on the track, but best in our books for the Great v Grape. Looked to be under pressure from Charles Leclerc in the second half of the race, but then goes onto harass Max Verstappen for the win. Looks like he will be an increasing factor for the rest of the season.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
MAX VERSTAPPEN – A win from pole seems good enough to most for a great-est rating, but Lando Norris’ drive in the end pipped the Championship leader. And Max can’t win everything all the time.
CHARLES LECLERC – A solid weekend more than anything without getting too excited. Ferrari form looks good enough, but potentially behind McLaren now.
OSCAR PIASTRI – Without the penalty would have started from second on the grid, so who knows what could have happened. About what actually happened, he came fourth in a strong drive. A win is coming this season, and you can be sure he will simply shrug it off.
LANCE STROLL – Two points and some good overtaking from a modest grid position. Flogged his team mate in a comparison of achievement. Decent race for the Canadian.
YUKI TSUNODA – Another point for RB with his team mate out of the points, and Tsunoda outdrove Red Bull driver Sergio Perez for large chunks of the race. MAybe not Red Bull worthy yet, but at least Liam Lawson won’t take his seat.
THE GRAPE-EST – FERNANDO ALONSO
Small crash in P3, didn’t make Q1 cut, spent a lot of the race towards the back of the field. Not great for someone who has over-achieved so much in the past few seasons.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
ALEX ALBON – Sent out from his first pit stop with a loose wheel. Then later on became the first and only retirement of the race. Luckily he has re-signed with Williams.
DANIEL RICCIARDO – Yes he made Q3 for the first time, but still qualified behind his team mate and didn’t get any points. He needs a Monaco podium to save his career.
SERGIO PEREZ – We’re not fooled by the Sunday recovery. Underwhelmed in qualifying again and looked to be getting no points at one stage. Did a good job in the end, but he should be further towards the front.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
ON TRACK ACTION – 6 / 10
Pretty dull first half of the race until the pit stops. From there it seemed the action started to flow with a bunch of cars getting past Sergio Perez who had yet to pit but was far enough behind to get in the way of the top five drivers. Then the action of when Perez had pitted and overtook some cars himself. Followed by the battle for first at the end. Just better than average, hence the 6/10.
ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5
The genuine McLaren pace was a bit of a surprise, as in the new upgrades appear to be giving them Championship challenging pace.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5
A second race where Lando Norris could have won, and not forgetting that Oscar Piastri qualified second. Have we reached a turning point where McLaren are now not just a clear best of the rest but are genuine title contenders. Maybe going overboard, maybe not. Talking of overboard, it’s off to Monaco next.
ENDING 9 / 10
A battle for the lead over the final 10 laps. That will do us for late action.
OVERALL RATING 23 / 30
It looked like a dull race, but opened up at half distance and had a great ending. And it looks like there might be a compeditive season in 2024 after all. Even for first.
2024 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Why not check the latest race ratings – 2024 Chinese Grand Prix Ratings
Or check out our 2023 Season Driver Rankings and Stats
