Verstappen talks through bold Piastri pass that ‘unleashed’ Red Bull’s pace in statement Imola victory drive

Max Verstappen expressed his pride and satisfaction after a statement drive to victory during Sunday’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix set up by an audacious move on Oscar Piastri at the start of the race.

Red Bull driver Verstappen was pipped to pole position by Piastri in Qualifying but brilliantly out-braked his McLaren rival and swept around the outside of him at the first corner – emerging from the Tamburello chicane with the lead.

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From there, Verstappen never looked back, managing Virtual Safety Car and full Safety Car periods to lead home Lando Norris and Piastri, bagging his and Red Bull’s second win of the season in the team’s 400th Grand Prix.

Speaking afterwards, Verstappen said: “The start itself wasn’t particularly great, but then I was still on the outside line, basically the normal line, and I was like, ‘Well, I’m just going to try and send it around the outside’. It worked really well!

“That of course then unleased our pace, because once we were in the lead, the car was good. I could look after my tyres and we had very good pace today. Again, a massive improvement from Friday, and I’m very pleased for that.

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“That VSC was quite handy to pit, and even on the hard compound, I think our pace was very strong. Then there was the Safety Car, so the field was all back together. But even then on the restart, I think we managed it all really well and brought it home.

“I’m incredibly proud of everyone. It’s been a very important week for us, the car has performed really well, and also I think the whole execution of the whole race, when to pit, the pit stops themselves, were all very good.”

The race result means Piastri now holds 146 points at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings, followed by Norris on 133 and Verstappen on 124 – as F1 moves swiftly on to the next phase of this triple header sequence in Monaco.

“Of course, next week it’s a completely different kind of track in Monaco – that’s also going to be very challenging,” Verstappen added. “But for the moment I just want to enjoy today and really take it in.”

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Verstappen’s team mate, Yuki Tsunoda, recovered from a massive Qualifying crash and pit lane start to climb his way up to 10th position and score the final point of the day.