Verstappen holds off a charging Norris to win Emilia-Romagna by less than 1 second, expands lead in Rankings
19 May 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
IMOLA, ITALY — F1 fans rejoiced Sunday after an epic 63 lap battle between Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Mclearn F1 driver Lando Norris in the 2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Verstappen held on by slim 0.7 seconds over Norris to capture his 5th win of the 2024 F1 season. Charles Leclerc finished 3rd giving Ferrari fans something to celebrate as they flooded the track for the podium presentation.
Updated GFT FI AI Driver Rankings after Emilia Romagna
The Big Movers:
Verstappen’s win moves his F1 Driver Points advantage to 48 over Charles Leclerc, and it moves Max’s lead in our GFT AI score to 108 over Leclerc and 111.8 over Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez.
With a disappointing 8th place finish, Perez falls 2 spots in the rankings to P4. Lando Norris takes his 2nd place finish, combined with his win last week at the Miami GP, and moves up to P3 in our GFT rankings, 4th in F1 Driver Points.
Winners quote
“I think the whole race I had to push flat out to try and make a gap initially,” said Verstappen. “I think on the medium tires we were quite strong, on the hards tires it was just a bit more difficult to manage, especially in the last 10, 15 laps. I had no grip anymore, I was really sliding a lot.
“I saw Lando closing in, so the last 10 laps I was just flat out. It’s very difficult when the tires are not working anymore and you have to go flat-out. I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes. Luckily we didn’t, and super happy of course to win here today.”
Up next
The next stop on the 2024 F1 calendar is Monte Carlo, with the Monaco Grand Prix May 24–26. The F1 Monaco GP kicks off a long day in motorsports for F1, the Indy 500, The NASCAR Coke 600, and High Limits Sprint Car Series in PA. We call it #MotorsportsPalooza
