But something has changed, because on the Imola asphalt the devil hides in the details, not in the ranking.
In fact, if on the Miami Garden circuit Norris' McLaren had bullied its Dutch rival, at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari the current leader had to draw on all his experience to confirm himself as race leader.
Ferrari driver Leclerc, forced to play the third wheel even in Emilia Romagna, took it philosophically: “ I'm happy, but if I had won it would have been better ,” he declared at the end of the race.
Let's get to the news of the day.
The quartet of usual suspects returns to compete for the 2024 world championship season: Red Bull, in its declining phase; McLaren, rising star; Ferrari, in clear recovery; Mercedes, still looking for the right team spirit.
And the 4.9 km of the Imola circuit, spread over 63 laps, confirmed these impressions.
The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari does not allow overtaking. The pilots find themselves forced into technical guidance. Any errors, as we will see shortly, come at a high price. In addition, the 43 degrees of asphalt this time also accelerated tire wear.
These are all complications that we will encounter during the race.
Verstappen takes the lead at the start, but already from the 8th lap behind his Red Bull the duel between Ferrari and McLaren begins, that is between a team working to improve the set-up and a team that has already found the winning combination.
On the 10th lap of the track the evolution of the race is clear: the poleman Verstappen is followed by Norris' McLaren, just 2.6 seconds away, followed by Leclerc, Sainz, McLaren's Piastri, the Mercedes duo, Russell and Hamilton, while with a gap Nico Hulkenberg's Haas appears after 5 seconds.
On lap 10 the story of the errors begins: Perez goes off the track and ruins the bottom of his Red Bull on the gravel at the edge of the track. The same goes for Albon's Williams, which later had to retire due to set-up problems.
Verstappen, who was under pressure from Norris' McLaren, also left the track and received a warning from the race officials.
From the 30th lap the drivers' competitive spirit resorts to strategies.
Leclerc, who is third, is approached by Piastri's McLaren, which chases him, and then accelerates and forces his opponent to wear out his tyres.
With ten laps to go, Verstappen also imitates him: he pretends to grant overtaking opportunities to Norris' McLaren, but then accelerates and distances his pursuer.
This strategy brings both cars of the two litigants to the limits of their respective technical possibilities.
With three laps to go, Red Bull runs out of charge in its hybrid energy system, the electric power unit required by the regulations and which will make all Formula 2030 cars carbon free in 1.
At the same time, Lando Norris finds himself chasing the Dutchman driving a McLaren with an engine that clearly has superior performance, but penalized by worn out tyres.
The message is clear: if Verstappen dominated at Imola, Norris is instead a candidate for the next victory.
The chronometric values at the finish line confirm this: behind Verstappen, Norris is second at just 7.2 thousandths. Leclerc's Ferrari, on the other hand, is third, 8 seconds behind. Fourth is Piastri, then Sainz, sixth Hamilton, then Russell; eighth is Perez driving a Red Bull more than a minute behind his teammate, Max Verstappen, at the wheel of a single-seater identical to that of the Mexican.
The quintet of the drivers' world ranking aligns Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez, Norris and Sainz, with 161, 113, 107, 101 and 93 points respectively, while the trio for the team world ranking is still led by Red Bull with 268 points, followed by Ferrari and then Mercedes, with 212 and 154 points respectively.
Next meeting in seven days on one of the most famous circuits in the world, Monte Carlo, for the 70th Monaco Grand Prix.
