Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Imola, 2022

Verstappen says Leclerc “ran out of tyres” before end of sprint race

2022 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen says he was able to pass Charles Leclerc to win the Emilia-Romagna sprint race because the Ferrari driver ran into trouble with his tyres.

The Red Bull driver lost the advantage of his pole position to Leclerc at the start of the race. “The start was very bad,” Verstappen admitted afterwards. “I don’t know exactly what happened or why it was so bad, just too much wheelspin.”

Verstappen closed on his rival in the final laps and used DRS to pass him and take victory. “We had to stay calm and it initially looked like Charles was actually having a bit more pace,” said Verstappen.

“But then I think he ran out of tyres and we could close the gap and then go for the move into turn two.

“I know maybe tomorrow it might be again a bit different but for sure today it worked out for us to be on this compound. So I’m very happy to have a clean sprint race at the end.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Imola, 2022
Gallery: 2022 Emilia-Romagna sprint race in pictures
The Red Bull driver’s win means he will start tomorrow’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix from pole position alongside Leclerc.

The Ferrari driver, who extended his championship lead by finishing second in the sprint race, said he was pleased to still have a front row start. However he is eager to understand the cause of the graining he experienced during the race.

“We struggled with the tyres at the end, we need to analyse that for tomorrow. At the end the main race is tomorrow and we need to make sure that we are ready.

“The pace was good until then. Then we started to have some graining on the front left and lost it towards the end. But it’s life, we’ll work and come back stronger tomorrow.”

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2022 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “Verstappen says Leclerc “ran out of tyres” before end of sprint race”

  1. Duh
    You think?

    Honestly tired of this drs driven, once again totally tyre reliant racing format

    I mean good racing was on hand totally hampered by a drs train and tyres.

    There was little skill shown anywhere in that farce really.

  2. Leclerc’s graining issue needs fixing, although this might prove irrelevant for tomorrow if rainfall arrives.

    1. Or driving on the medium/hard tyres could already solve the issue.

  3. Hopefully Ferrari has an answer to this issue and can prevent a RBR 1-2 tomorrow.

    1. For the championship a Rbr 1, 2 would be nice.

    2. With the reliability red bull has had so far I would be wary of even thinking about a red bull 1-2!

  4. Surprised they decided to put a sprint race at this track. If anything removing the DRS here would’ve been more interesting.

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