Imola 2021 | Verstappen beats blundering Hamilton on a wet circuit

Perez beats Verstappen

On Saturday, it was Lewis Hamilton who was fastest during qualifying. The differences were minimal, as Sergio Perez came just 0.035s short of pole. Verstappen was disappointed, as he had to start from P3 and was beaten by his teammate in qualifying for the first time in a long time. Lando Norris was the most disappointed driver on Saturday, as he saw a P3 go up in smoke due to Track Limits.

With Perez and Verstappen behind him on the grid, Hamilton did find himself alone on Sunday, as Valtteri Bottas had not moved beyond eighth place in qualifying. This proved to be a problem for Mercedes during the start, as Verstappen had a world-beating start from P3 on the wet track. He dived into a gap on the inside and left no doubt at the first chicane that he would take P1.

Hamilton, with minor damage to his car, therefore had to settle for P2 behind Verstappen. In the wet conditions, however, anything was possible. However, despite two chances at a safety car restart for crashes by Nicholas Latifi and Mick Schumacher, Hamilton failed to get past his title rival.

Heap of mistakes by Perez

Sergio Perez, meanwhile, made his own race a lot harder behind the safety car by shooting off the track. The Mexican lost two spots in the process, but thought he could make them up. This was not appreciated by the race committee and the Red Bull driver was given a ten second penalty.

The battle at the front became a battle in the pits. Red Bull brought Verstappen in first to exchange the intermediates for the yellow mediums. Hamilton responded a lap later, but a quick outlap by Verstappen and a slow pit stop by Mercedes ensured Hamilton stayed behind his rival.

Blunder by Hamilton

The seven-time world champion already saw his rival disappear on the horizon, so the Brit took just a little more risk in traffic. On a drying track, however, that did not prove to be a good move. Hamilton braked on the wet asphalt in an attempt to overtake George Russell and shot straight on. Instead of reversing, Hamilton made matters worse by sending his car into the wall, taking off his front wing.

However, while Hamilton was not yet out of the gravel, he was saved by Russell and Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton had already fallen back to P7 and was already almost a lap behind Verstappen, but a crash between the two men fighting for the seat next to Lewis at Mercedes in 2022 had collided and caused a red flag.

Lewis saved

That red flag proved to be the salvation for Hamilton, because with a repaired wing, new tyres and the whole field back together, anything was still possible with thirty laps left on the clock. From P8 Hamilton had to resume the fight and only Perez seemed a major obstacle on a dry track.

At the restart things almost went wrong for Verstappen, who took a little too much risk warming up his tyres on a drying track. Charles Leclerc, however, was not awake enough to take advantage of this and so Verstappen drove to victory with relative ease.

Behind Verstappen, Perez could not be the blocker for Hamilton that Red Bull had hoped for. Before the Mercedes driver was even close, Perez spun on a wet kerb and fell back. This left Hamilton with a clear path and he climbed to second place. Thus, despite a major blunder, he retained the lead in the standings. The third and final podium spot was for Lando Norris.