India. Newdelhi: Max Verstappen won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix beating Sir. Lewis Hamilton an exciting final held on April 18, 2021. Lando Norris secured the third position.
Max Verstappen, the Red Bull star gave a consistently brilliant performance and eventually won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix beating the seven-time champion, Mercedes‘s Sir. Lewis Hamilton. Earlier, during the final practice session, Verstappen finished fastest while Hamilton snatched pole position for the 99th time in his career.
Lando Norris who was left disappointed after ‘effing up’ qualifying lap ahead of the main Emilia Romagna Grand Prix event and started P7 climbed to the third position beating several hopefuls. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth after the red flag restart followed by his teammate, Carlos Sainz who finished fifth while McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo becomes sixth in the Race.
Childhood shows the way
Son of former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen, Max Verstappen showed lots of promise right from his childhood. Starting with ‘racing karts’ at five to participating in ‘International karting’ events and finally transitioning to ‘Single Seater Racing’ in his late teenage days prepared him to debut in the formidable Formula One Circuit in 2015. Soon Max became the first Dutch national and youngest winner of any Formula One Grand Prix. The RedBull Star has a promising future ahead.
Crashes that changed the game
The tight track at Imola, washed by rain also saw some nerve-wracking moments and crashes. The race was red-flagged mid-way due to a full-blown crash involving Valtteri Bottas and George Russell. Lewis Hamilton also recovered from a spin at Tosa to finish second in the race leading the championship by a point.
Closed-door Grand Prix in 2020
In 2020, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was not in the schedule initially and was included later to maximize the number of races in a season. The 63-lap race took place without an audience due to COVID 19 related restrictions. Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton, along with his teammate Valtteri Bottas secured the first and second places respectively while Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo took the final podium place.
About Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari
Located 40 kilometers to the east of Bologna, Italy, Imola hosts several Formula1 GP events and is one of the few major international circuits to run in an anti-clockwise direction. The circuit ‘Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari‘ is named after Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari’s late founder, and his son, Alfredo Dino Ferrari. The Imola circuit hosted the Italian Grand Prix in 1980, and the San Marino Grand Prix from the year 1981 to 2006.
Safety concerns, the tragedy, and track redesign
The track was inaugurated in the year 1953 with no chicanes, so the runs were straight with few short bends. Soon safety concerns cropped up around the flat-out Tamburello corner which was bumpy and narrow. The death of Ayrton Senna after a fatal crash at the same site in 1994 forced the promoters to make Tamburello safer, making it a left-right-left chicane instead of a flat-out left hander to slow down cars. Since the year 2007, the Circuit underwent significant revisions following which, in 2008, The FIA gave the track a “1T” rating. As of August 2011, the track received a ‘1’ FIA homologation rating and became ready to host world championships.
The current racing event again witnessed several crashes and incidents of drivers losing control of their cars but surely and certainly ‘Imola’ will remain a circuit to watch out for in the European formula One context.
Coming next in the Formula One season for 2021 is the ‘Portuguese Grand Prix‘, scheduled on Sunday, May 2, 2021, at Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Click here to view the complete Formula One race Calendar for 2021.
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