Max Verstappen wins the sprint against Charles Leclerc on the penultimate lap and Carlos Sainz comes back

The sprint of the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix has been spectacular. Max Verstappen has taken a victory which consolidates him in the first position on the grid for Sunday, but it has not been easy at all. In fact, he overtook Charles Leclerc on the penultimate lap of the race.

Behind, Carlos Sainz has made a valuable comeback that puts him back in the fight for the podium, while Fernando Alonso had a disastrous sprint. From the start of the formation lap to running out of points. He will start ninth on Sunday and with quite worrying feelings.

Bad sprint for Alonso and the Mercedes

The Imola sprint script changed when Leclerc overtook Verstappen at the start. It seemed that the Ferrari man was well on his way to victory, but he began to suffer from tire problems that caused him to lose time until Verstappen got on top of him and passed him on the penultimate lap.

The pace exhibited by the Red Bulls on this Saturday is impressive. Not just Verstappen, but Sergio Pérez also recovered positions without problems until finishing third, and not so far from Leclerc. They look like the big favorites for an anticlimactic one-two at Imola, which is packed with Ferrari fans.

The other comeback has been that of Carlos Sainz, who has already won a couple of places at the start and then he has been passing Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris to finish fourth. In other words, he is back in the fight for the podium and to be a strategic piece for Ferrari. Great job.

The cross of the sprint was Fernando Alonso, who was already stuck at the start of the formation lap and then lost positions in the real one. The Spaniard’s pace was not good at all, stuck behind Magnussen and losing position to Valtteri Bottas at the last minute to even run out of points.

Incredible also the image of Mercedes. Neither of his two drivers has scored points in the sprint. In fact, they haven’t even come close. Lewis Hamilton made a dismal start to be fourteenthwhile George Russell could barely pass Sebastian Vettel at the end, but will start eleventh.

It’s completely untied! 😎

beautiful preview of @Carlossainz55 to Ricciardo. He doesn’t care about turbulence. He doesn’t care about EVERYTHING 🔴#ImolaDAZNF1 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/C3S2wF7lx7

— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) April 23, 2022

And that two rivals were left out of the game as soon as they started, because Guanyu Zhou and Pierre Gasly collided at the start when they were putting wheel to Hamilton. Esteban Ocon, Alonso’s teammate, did not have a great sprint either, placing sixteenth on the starting grid.

Results Sprint Formula 1 GP Emilia Romagna 2022

Formula 1 general classification

1. Charles LECLERC (Ferrari-MON), 78 points
2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari-ESP), 38 points
3. George RUSSELL (Mercedes-GBR), 37 points
4. Sergio PEREZ (Red Bull-MEX), 36 points
5. Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull-HOL), 33 puntos