Four things we learned from F1's return to Imola

Verstappen: almost perfect

He almost blew it on the rolling start after the red flag. Verstappen lost control at Rivazza as the race was about to restart, but just about collected the moment, composed himself and then sprinted away to a convincing 22-second win over Hamilton. It was the only blemish on an otherwise spotless performance at the great Italian race track.

Max only started a disappointing third, behind his team-mate Sergio Pérez, after making a hash of his qualifying lap on Saturday. But that was quickly forgotten as he made a peach of a getaway in wet conditions, starting in second gear to smoothly feed in the power, then left Pérez standing and squeezed inside Hamilton on the run to Tamburello. The drying conditions gave Verstappen plenty to fret about as he and everyone else out there tried to work out when to switch from intermediate tyres (or full wets in the case of the gambling Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and the Haas drivers). Hamilton was poised to strike at the stops, only for a sluggish tyre change to allow Verstappen to keep his lead, but the pair were set to be locked in combat again as the race headed into its second half – only for Hamilton to make a rare blunder.

Verstappen’s Rivazza error almost undid his fine work, but he shook it off to blitz his way to an 11^th career victory in F1. “It was very challenging out there, especially in the beginning. It was very hard to stay on track,” said the Dutchman. “With tyres degrading in the wet, to choose the right moment to go to slicks is never easy. I had a little moment with my restart but everything else went well today.”

Hamilton’s lucky escape

He lost the advantage his superb pole position had earned him when Verstappen blasted past at the start, and yet there was still a sense that Hamilton was biding his time, especially in conditions in which he usually excels. But for once, Hamilton dropped a clanger when he slithered off-line to lap George Russell and found himself helpless to stop his Mercedes-AMG W12 heading for the barrier at Tosa. The slow-speed contact dislodged his car’s nose and that might have been it for the seven-time world champion. But he drew on all those years of experience to careful reverse over the gravel trap, rejoin and make it back to the pits.

Still, the incident had cost him a lap and the chance of a strong points finish now looked out of the question – until the red flag gave him the lucky break he so needed. Before the rolling start, he and the others who were also a lap down were allowed a reconnaissance lap to make it back up and, restarting in ninth, Hamilton found it was still all to play for with 26 laps left to run. Now in dry conditions on medium Pirellis, he used DRS – the zone for which had been extended since last year’s race – to pick off those ahead of him into Tamburello. Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and finally Lando Norris were powerless to stop the Mercedes steaming past and Hamilton’s comeback earned him a fine – if fortunate – second place. Snatching fastest lap ensures he still leads the world championship by a single point, but at this rate every single one might count as F1’s best two drivers look forward to the prospect of going toe to toe through the rest of the season.

Russell stokes tension after Bottas collision

The biggest, most contentious talking point from Imola was the heavy accident that played out between Valtteri Bottas and George Russell which caused the red flag interruption on lap 34. Both blamed the other on a day when neither covered themselves in glory.

Bottas was already having a horrible time after starting a disastrous eighth on the grid and having been given the hurry-up by his boss Toto Wolff. Now a Williams, of all cars, had a run on him on the drag to Tamburello – and of course, it had to be that driver. Russell pulled to the right, but the sudden rising revs from his Mercedes engine were the tell-tale his right rear had lost grip, and at nearly 190mph the left-front wheel of the Williams crashed into the side of the black Mercedes. Both drivers were fortunate to escape injury in the impacts that followed, before Russell jumped from his car, remonstrated with the still cockpit-bound Bottas and took a light swipe at his rival’s helmet. Not very clever, especially as this is the guy he’s likely to either be teamed with or replace next year.

Afterwards, Russell made it worse by suggesting Bottas defended harder than he might have done, because it was George chasing him down. No surprise the Finn scoffed at that one as a madcap conspiracy – and Toto Wolff made it all too clear he was deeply unimpressed with his young protégé’s behaviour. Russell will likely have some work to put in over the coming weeks to avoid this unseemly drama turning into an overblown crisis.

As for the collision, the stewards judged it a racing accident – which was probably fair. Both drivers played their part, as did the narrow funnelling of Tamburello’s approach at a dated and demanding circuit that all weekend highlighted drivers’ weaknesses all too starkly.

Norris shines for McLaren

Imola was a tough second race of the season, especially for those still settling into new teams. Ricciardo at McLaren, Sainz at Ferrari, Fernando Alonso at Alpine and Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin all endured troubles of one kind or another that left them scrabbling in the wake of their team-mates.

Meanwhile, young Lando Norris delivered the kind of performance that indicates just what kind of bright future the 21-year-old might have in F1. He drove beautifully in the tricky conditions on Sunday, putting his Saturday error behind him that left him starting behind Ricciardo in seventh rather than the third place that should have been his. Such was his pace early on that his (barely) coded message to McLaren that he should be allowed to pass Ricciardo was accepted within seconds.

He was third following Hamilton’s mistake and ahead of the red flag, then shot past Leclerc’s Ferrari at the rolling restart for second, on his red-walled soft Pirellis. Those tyres would need some management to get him to the finish, but he kept his head and delivered a fine podium for his team. No shame at all that he couldn’t stop Hamilton demoting him to third – no one else could have done in that situation either. Ricciardo now needs a strong performance at Portimao in the first weekend of May to grasp back momentum currently slipping away from him at McLaren, as Norris all too rapidly comes of age.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.