Max Verstappen wins the sprint race in Imola

Max Verstappen was victorious in the sprint race at Imola to secure eight points for his title challenge and win pole position for Sunday's Grand Prix. The Dutchman lost the lead from off the line, but began to reel in Charles Leclerc and pressure the Monegasque driver in the closing stages before taking back P1 on the penultimate lap of the sprint.

While he had built up an impressive lead, Leclerc was soon reeled in by Verstappen as the sprint race came to a close, with the Dutchman closing the gap down to just half a second on lap 17.Verstappen's poor start cost him the lead, but he was able to make up time as the sprint progressed to set up a monumental wheel-to-wheel battle with Leclerc for the final few laps. He tried and failed into the first turn on lap 19, but was successful the following lap after braking later than his rival to take the lead.

Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez finished on the podium, with McLaren's Lando Norris simply not having the race pace to keep either the Mexican or Carlos Sainz behind him and finishing in fifth.

Haas' decision to use the medium tyres for both drivers cost Kevin Magnussen who started fourth but finished eighth in the last points finish.

Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas both scored points.

As it happened

Despite Verstappen's advantage following qualifying, it was Leclerc who had the far better start off the line and raced into the lead before the braking point into the first corner. Verstappen simply didn't get going quick enough to prevent the Ferrari driver from taking the lead of the sprint race, and the Dutchman was even threatened by Lando Norris, but managed to make it past turn one ahead of the McLaren star.

His Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez qualified in a disappointing seventh, but unlike Verstappen he had a great launch and put his car into P5 on the opening lap, and soon set about chasing those ahead.

Mercedes, however, couldn't get going with both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton losing one place each on an opening lap that was punctured by a safety car following an incident between Guanyu Zhou and Pierre Gasly. Zhou was forced to retire, while Gasly had to pit in order to put on a new front wing.

On the restart it was Leclerc who was able to build up a lead with Verstappen unable to close up to the Ferrari driver, while the duo's teammates began to rectify their poor qualifying sessions.

Sainz crashed in Q2 and so needed to come through the field in the sprint. On lap seven he moved past fellow Spaniard Alonso to go into seventh before getting past Magnussen, Ricciardo and Norris with ease to secure fourth place.

Mercedes were expected to climb into the top 10 following their FP2 form, but neither Russell or Hamilton were able to make significant moves after being stuck in a DRS train.