Red Bull's Max Verstappen wins Saturday's Emilia Romagna sprint race at Imola, earning a crucial win over Championship leader Charles Leclerc.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has edged out Championship leader Charles Leclerc to win Saturday's Emilia Romagna sprint race at Imola.

In the first of three sprint races for 2022, Verstappen had been on pole and favourite to secure a much-needed victory in the 21-lap race.

However, a poor start allowed Leclerc to beat him down to the first corner, and it was the Ferrari man who was in front for the majority of Saturday's sprint.

Verstappen was biding his time, however, and after making up ground during the previous laps, the Dutchman took full advantage at the start of the penultimate lap.

As well as Verstappen eating a point into a 46-point deficit to Leclerc, he will also start Sunday's Grand Prix on pole, with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez in third.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jnr completes the second row of the grid, but the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will start in 11th and 14th respectively. body check tags ::

amp_article__484104 : Collect and Make Data not in DataBase  : 

last updated article - 2022-04-24 14:29:17: 

html db last update  - 2022-04-23 15:05:23 : 


ex  - 7200 : read : write cache and make html