2024 Emilia Romagna GP Roundup

Formula 1

Lando closes in on Max in the final laps. Max and his full time Sim-Racing Career. Alonso falls to the back of the Grid.

Full-time Sim-racer, part-time Formula One Driver.

The 2024 Emilia Romagna, or “Imola”, Grand Prix can be best described as a long, slow movie with a thrilling and entertaining finish that left the audience on the edge of their seats. The stars of this movie analogy? Lando Norris for McLaren and Max Verstappen for Red Bull.

After his win at the Miami GP last weekend, young Lando Norris sought to make it two wins in a row at Imola with a very close finish only 7 tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen, a gap that was over 7 seconds only ten laps earlier. The young Brit was pushing with all his might on his hard tires to close the gap to the Red Bull in front of him but just came up short. Although McLaren fans will be disappointed one of their two-star drivers didn’t stand on the top step of the podium, we can agree it is refreshing to see a force rising up to challenge the absolute dominance of Red Bull over the last 3 years.

Max Verstappen, 3 time Champion of the World with team Red Bull, qualifies 1^st on Saturday the 18^th of May for the Imola Grand Prix… and later that night also competes in the virtual 24 hours of Nurburgring for iRacing team Redline. But it doesn’t stop there, the next morning on Sunday the 19^th, Verstappen would go on to win the Imola Grand Prix and later return to his apartment to complete the final stage of the 24-hour iRacing series, and in the process may have become the first driver in Formula One history to simultaneously take part in both virtual and real-world racing series. Being Max Verstappen, he of course won them both.

The Imola Grand Prix was not one of many highlights, with there being a noticeable dip in activity around the middle of the race, however, we did see some strange events including a rare last-place finish for 2-time World Champion Fernando Alonso and a DNF for Williams driver Alex Albon who recently signed a multi-year contract to continue with the Williams team from 2025 onwards. The great Sebastian Vettel, four-time World Champion, hosted a commemorative track run in honour of the legendary Ayrton Senna who lost his life at the Imola Circuit 30 years ago, donning the iconic green and yellow livery of the Brazilian driver’s car from the era.