By the time Red Bull had an inkling how much pressure Max Verstappen was going to be under at the end of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, it was too late to do anything about it.
Lando Norris cut Verstappen’s lead from a peak of seven-and-a-half seconds to just seven-tenths of a second as they took the chequered flag.The McLaren driver was consistently quicker than Verstappen at the end of the race on the hard tyre compound. His cautious start to that stint appeared to be part of the reason why.
Red Bull might have expected Verstappen to face a tricky end to the race as his team mate Sergio Perez started on the hard rubber and his lap times dropped off 23 laps into his 37-lap stint.
After the race Perez suspected he damaged his car when he went off the track at the Rivazzas. However his lap times largely recovered after that mistake on lap 17, which cost him five seconds. It wasn’t until later that his pace dropped.
Verstappen’s lap times didn’t deteriorate as sharply as his team mate’s, but from around 20 laps into his stint they rose slightly, and he had little answer as Norris began to press.
Norris played his tyres in more gently at the start of his stint compared to his team mate Oscar Piastri, and that appeared to pay off later on. Having given away half a second per lap at times at the start of the stint, Norris gained almost a second a lap compared to Piastri in the latter laps as Verstappen’s car grew bigger ahead of him. Norris’ reduced pace even allowed Charles Leclerc to briefly gain on him.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
As the race entered its final half-dozen laps, both Verstappen and Norris’ lap times were rising as they exhausted their batteries, wrung the last from their tyres and began making occasional errors. Norris’ difficulties were amplified by the aerodynamic wake from Verstappen’s car ahead, and on laps 58 and 59 his progress stalled.
In F1’s first fully-dry race at Imola since 2020, one-stop strategies were as usual the preferred route. Among the points-scorers only George Russell came in twice, and his second visit was for fresh tyres in order to bag the fastest lap bonus point. Unusually, he sacrificed a place in order to do so, though it was collected by his team mate, so the move was a net gain for Mercedes.
Perez was the only driver to run the ‘opposite’ one-stop strategy of starting on hards and switching to mediums. Even without his mistake it’s doubtful he would have finished any higher, as he was too far behind the Mercedes drivers to stand a chance of jumping ahead of them, though it could have thwarted Russell’s bid for fastest lap.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | # | Driver | Car | Lap time | Gap | Avg. speed (kph) | Lap no. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’18.589 | 224.87 | 54 | |
2 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’19.004 | 0.415 | 223.69 | 62 |
3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’19.686 | 1.097 | 221.78 | 52 |
4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’19.907 | 1.318 | 221.16 | 25 |
5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’19.935 | 1.346 | 221.08 | 27 |
6 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’19.994 | 1.405 | 220.92 | 54 |
7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’20.220 | 1.631 | 220.3 | 63 |
8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’20.331 | 1.742 | 219.99 | 43 |
9 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’20.366 | 1.777 | 219.9 | 38 |
10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’20.570 | 1.981 | 219.34 | 58 |
11 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB-Honda RBPT | 1’20.936 | 2.347 | 218.35 | 14 |
12 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’21.009 | 2.420 | 218.15 | 58 |
13 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’21.016 | 2.427 | 218.13 | 37 |
14 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | 1’21.229 | 2.640 | 217.56 | 55 |
15 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1’21.274 | 2.685 | 217.44 | 48 |
16 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’21.304 | 2.715 | 217.36 | 37 |
17 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | 1’21.371 | 2.782 | 217.18 | 10 |
18 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’21.455 | 2.866 | 216.96 | 11 |
19 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB-Honda RBPT | 1’21.569 | 2.980 | 216.66 | 13 |
20 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | 1’21.700 | 3.111 | 216.31 | 3 |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Rank | # | Driver | Team | Complete stop time (s) | Gap to best (s) | Stop no. | Lap no. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 29.547 | 1 | 27 | |
2 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 29.605 | 0.058 | 2 | 52 |
3 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 29.628 | 0.081 | 1 | 12 |
4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 29.664 | 0.117 | 1 | 21 |
5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 29.669 | 0.122 | 1 | 37 |
6 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 29.749 | 0.202 | 1 | 13 |
7 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 29.77 | 0.223 | 1 | 23 |
8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 29.931 | 0.384 | 3 | 59 |
9 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 29.956 | 0.409 | 1 | 22 |
10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 29.971 | 0.424 | 1 | 37 |
11 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 30.05 | 0.503 | 1 | 8 |
12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 30.068 | 0.521 | 1 | 11 |
13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 30.081 | 0.534 | 1 | 8 |
14 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 30.149 | 0.602 | 1 | 25 |
15 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 30.24 | 0.693 | 1 | 8 |
16 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | 30.244 | 0.697 | 1 | 33 |
17 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 30.416 | 0.869 | 1 | 24 |
18 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 30.483 | 0.936 | 2 | 40 |
19 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 30.508 | 0.961 | 1 | 27 |
20 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 30.654 | 1.107 | 2 | 30 |
21 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 30.659 | 1.112 | 1 | 25 |
22 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 31.085 | 1.538 | 1 | 31 |
23 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 31.131 | 1.584 | 4 | 28 |
24 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 31.302 | 1.755 | 1 | 37 |
25 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 31.368 | 1.821 | 1 | 7 |
26 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 33.179 | 3.632 | 2 | 9 |
27 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 38.413 | 8.866 | 3 | 23 |
2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
- Ferrari expect qualifying gain after spotting rivals’ power strategy tactics
- How Alonso and Stroll copied Verstappen’s tactic plus more unheard Imola radio
- Verstappen beats Hamilton’s winning rate with Emilia-Romagna GP victory
- How Russell resisted losing position to Hamilton “for no reason” with extra stop
- “Lando’s found some pace”: Unheard radio from Verstappen-Norris Imola duel
osnola
20th May 2024, 19:34
According to Norria himself he started experimenting with the settings when Leclerc made his error.
Until that moment Noris was defending against lec. When he got some breathing space he changed the settings and loaded the front more resulting in the tires “turning on”.
As of that moment he was able to real in Verstappen.
So it was not so much a deliberate attempt to keep his tires alive for a late attack.
Piastri burnd his tires in the attampts to pass sainz.