Oscar Piastri paid the price for leaving Max Verstappen room as the Red Bull driver passed him at the start to win at Imola.
Verstappen claimed his fourth consecutive victory in what is likely to be the last running of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
Piastri made a good start from pole position and drew ahead of Verstappen as they raced to turn one. But the McLaren driver left the outside free for his rival and Verstappen took full advantage, sweeping by him into the lead.
The situation became worse for Piastri soon afterwards as McLaren brought him in for an early first pit stop, putting him on course to make two tyre changes. Several others made the same move, but as gaps opened up between the leading drivers, their tyre degradation improved and they extended their opening stints. Verstappen therefore built up a lead over Lando Norris, who passed George Russell early on.
However Piastri quickly made his way past the midfielders. That plus a Virtual Safety Car and a later Safety Car period eased his path back to second place.
Verstappen led Piastri and Norris at the final restart, which followed a Safety Car period caused by Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s retirement. But Piastri was unable to stay with the Red Bull driver, and within a few laps of the restart Norris took the ‘Verstappen line’ around the outside of his team mate at Tamburello for second place.
Charles Leclerc, who like Piastri lost ground when he pitted early, found himself fourth at the final restart on a worn set of hard tyres. He came under attack from Alexander Albon, whom he forced off at Tamburello, before both were passed by Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari then told Leclerc to let Albon past on the final lap to avoid the risk of a penalty, which he did.
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George Russell, another driver to pit early, came seventh. He reported a possible problem with his car at one stage in the race, but was the only Mercedes driver to reach the finish.
He took the chequered flag under attack from Carlos Sainz Jnr, who was within DRS range. He was another driver who ran strong in the opening stages but lost out by pitting early. He survived contact with Yuki Tsunoda as he passed the Red Bull driver on his way to eighth.
Tsunoda passed Nico Hulkenberg to claim the final point behind Isack Hadjar. Earlier in the race Red Bull instructed Tsunoda to delay Piastri when the pair met on-track, but the McLaren swept by with ease at Tamburello.
Fernando Alonso finished an unhappy 11th after running in the points early in the race. The final Safety Car period compromised Aston Martin who had depleted their stocks of harder rubber in qualifying.
Esteban Ocon was the first driver to retire, pulling over at the exit of Tosa early in the race much as Antonelli did later on.
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