It was the perfect day to sum up a perfect weekend for Oracle Red Bull Racing, as Max Verstappen claimed his second victory of the season whilst Sergio Pérez made it the team’s first one-two finish since 2016, at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Verstappen having started from pole, dominated the race. The Dutchman was rarely seen during the Grand Prix whilst Pérez behind was in an intense battle with Charles Leclerc. The Mexican who overtook Leclerc on the opening lap, found himself having to re-overtake the Scuderia Ferrari driver after making a mistake on his out-lap. Pérez pitted for Medium tyres having been on the Intermediates a lap before Leclerc changed his, however lost the position after a messy out-lap.
The Mexican did well to get back past though after successfully heating up his tyres. Pérez was under immense pressure from Leclerc though in the closing stages, however the Monegasque driver got too greedy on the kerbs at Turns fourteen and fifteen, resulting in an unnecessary spin for the championship leader.
The one-two finish see’s both Red Bull drivers back in the hunt for the championship and see’s the team jump to second in the Constructors’.
Team Principal, Christian Horner, deemed the race as “one of our best ever results”.
“This has to be one of our best ever results, to take the maximum points across the whole weekend, bar one, was incredible. Both Max and Checo have driven brilliantly to secure our first one-two finish since Malaysia in 2016. I’m very proud of the entire team, from everyone at the track and those back in the factory at Milton Keynes, they delivered a phenomenal performance, it’s just what we needed to rebound from Australia. It’s a long season and we’ll take a lot of confidence from this result and try to build on it in Miami in a couple of weeks’ time.”
