Verstappen takes dominant win in Imola

ITALY: Red Bull's Max Verstappen took a dominant victory in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix founded on an audacious overtaking move on the first lap.

The four-time champion passed pole-sitter Oscar Piastri's McLaren around the outside of the first chicane after the start and controlled the race from there.

A late safety car closed the field up and put the McLarens of Piastri and Lando Norris on Verstappen's tail.

But a consummate restart from Verstappen allowed him to break free while Norris, on much fresher tyres than Piastri, fought for three laps before finally passing the Australian to take second.

The result, Verstappen's second win of the season, reduces Piastri's championship lead over Norris to 13 points from 16, and puts the Dutchman nine behind the Briton.

Lewis Hamilton benefited from an offset strategy, starting on the hard tyre, and the two safety cars to fight up from 12th on the grid to finish fourth for Ferrari, passing his team-mate Charles Leclerc in the hectic closing laps thanks to much fresher tyres.

For McLaren, there will be questions about strategy, after they pitted Piastri early in the race when he was second behind Verstappen, albeit beginning to lose time.

Piastri acknowledged that they had made some "wrong calls" and also that he had "braked too early" on the first lap when challenged by Verstappen.

That decision to stop early put Verstappen in a comfortable 10-second lead over Norris, who was unable to do anything about the Red Bull's advantage, and forced Piastri to have to fight back through the midfield cars to reclaim his position.

A virtual safety car mid-race made Verstappen's life even easier for a while, and wrecked Piastri's hopes of second place, but the Red Bull had long ago taken control of the race.

It was a fitting drive to mark Red Bull's 400th grand prix.