Who were the winners and losers of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix?

It's fair to say that this race had everything, and it looks as though the 2021 F1 season could be the best for decades. With half a wet race, half a dry race, and a red flag, as well as plenty of overtaking action, at a track renowned for being difficult to pass, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix certainly didn't disappoint. 

The aforementioned conditions, plus the fact that Imola is an unforgiving circuit anyway, ensured the race was filled to the brim with drama and talking points; it matched the season opener in Bahrain that's for sure.

You can see our overall report of the race here, but who were the winners and losers?

Winner - Max Verstappen

Who else? Max Verstappen more than made up for his error at the Bahrain International Circuit to take his first victory of the 2021 season, and close the gap to Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship to just one point. 

The Dutchman was surprisingly beaten by his new teammate Sergio Perez in Saturday's qualifying session, meaning he started third on the grid, behind Perez in P2 and Hamilton on pole.

However, in regards to the lead, Saturday was completely thrown out the window in the opening 10 seconds. Verstappen had an excellent launch off the line and was able to pass not only his Red Bull teammate, but also Hamilton going into turn two to take the lead of the race.

According to reports on Sky Sports F1, he interestingly started in second gear, which enabled him to get such a brilliant start when the lights went green.

After stealing P1 from Hamilton, Verstappen cruised to victory and baring one slight incident in which he nearly spun his RB16B under safety car conditions, he stayed clear of the drama that befell many on the grid.

He dealt with the early wet conditions with expert ease, and once the race moved onto slick tyres, he looked completely in command. The safety car restart after the red flag could've allowed the likes of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris to pressurise the Dutchman, but no such attack materialised.

In the end, the Red Bull driver took victory by a convincing 22 seconds to close the gap to Hamilton in the Championship; this could well be the best title race in the hybrid-era.

Winner - Lando Norris

He took 'Driver of the Day' in Italy, and just as he did in the opening race, Lando Norris finds himself in our winners section. I was hesitant to put the Brit as a winner simply because he was included last time out, but his drive in the Emilia Romagna GP was too good to ignore.

After his P3 lap in qualifying was deleted for exceeding track limits at turn nine, Norris started in P7, with his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc ahead of him as fourth to seventh on the starting grid was exactly the same as in Bahrain.

And just like in Bahrain, Norris found a way to pass all three of them. His new McLaren teammate Ricciardo is clearly still getting to grips with the MCL35M, and Norris was able to extend his lead on the Aussie in the Drivers' Championship to 13 points.

In fact, Norris' podium finish, in P3, means he moves ahead of Valtteri Bottas and into third place in the Championship to represent a truly excellent start to the season for the 21-year-old.

He started 2020 in brilliant fashion, with his first podium in F1 in the opening race, and a P5 finish in the second race, and that early season form has rolled straight into 2021 as well.

However, it all could've gone so differently. The McLaren driver was unable to get his tyres up to speed off the line, and dropped down to P9 behind Lance Stroll and former teammate Carlos Sainz at the start, before he eventually moved back up the pack, and ahead of Gasly in P6 by lap nine after the safety car restart.

That move on Gasly was made relatively easy with the Frenchman choice of full wet tyres not paying off at all.

With clean air in front, his pace was immense and he soon caught up with Ricciardo, passing him with team orders instructing the Aussie to let him do so.

After the red flag was waved following Valtteri Bottas and George Russell's crash, Norris was in third. After turn two of the restart, he was second; a brilliant move on Leclerc into turn two saw the Brit pass the Ferrari with his choice of soft tyres giving him the edge.

Despite pressure from Leclerc, and later Hamilton, Norris defended tremendously well, showing a nous far beyond his years. He may have eventually lost P2 to fellow Brit Hamilton, but a third place finish, and a second podium in F1 sees Norris stay on the winners list.

Constructor Winner - Ferrari

In a new segment of our Grand Prix winners and losers series, we take a look at one Constructor who excelled; this week, it's Ferrari. 

After a woeful 2020 season, the Prancing Horses look to have recovered much of the deficit to the likes of McLaren, and it seems as though the two will be fighting for P3 in the Constructors' Championship this year.

Whilst Norris edged out both Leclerc and Sainz this week, Mattia Binotto was be extremely pleased with the team's weekend in Italy. A P4 and P5 finish for their drivers means they take 22 points from the race, and open up a healthy 27 point gap to Aston Martin in fifth.

Leclerc was unable to make his P2 restart position count, but overall it was a valiant display from the team, and they'll be pleased with their progress.

A shoutout to Sainz as well, who despite qualifying P11, made his way through the field to finish fifth, and was maybe unlucky to miss out being a winner on his own.

Loser - Sergio Perez

Unlike Norris, Perez was unable to translate being in our winners section in Bahrain to the same result in Imola, and that's despite outqualifying Verstappen to start on the front row of the grid for the first time in his career.

A poor start saw him drop behind his teammate into P3, and he was quickly passed by Leclerc as well. He held onto P4 until Norris came flying past him, and his afternoon went from slightly disappointing to extremely poor when he went into the gravel after the restart and dropped all the way down to 14th.

He managed to pass Antonio Giovinazzi and Sebastian Vettel to move into 12th, but once here was there, he became stuck in a DRS train with Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Kimi Raikkonen and to some extent Gasly. This meant he was unable to pass either Alpine car, and so whilst he started in P2, Perez experienced a troubling afternoon, akin to many Alexander Albon suffered last season, in the difficult conditions, and finish outside the points.

With the Red Bull car evidently so quick, as shown with Verstappen taking victory, and Perez himself showing pace in qualifying, the Mexican will be devastated with how his race panned out after promising so much.

He may well have led the race had the circuit been dry, as he would've started on the soft tyre, but the rain caused him similar issues to the ones Albon suffered in Turkey last year; next stop is Portimao, Perez will need to perform.

Loser - Valtteri Bottas

P8 in qualifying whilst his teammate was on pole, and a DNF in the race, Valtteri Bottas had almost the worst weekend imaginable in Italy.

After topping the timesheets in both FP1 and FP2 on Friday, things quickly nosedived for Bottas' weekend and his surprisingly poor performance in Q3 set his fortunes in motion.

Even before his DNF, Bottas had dropped to 10th in the early stages of the race, before he made his way back up to P8 just before his incident with George Russell. The fact that the Williams was able to catch Bottas, even with DRS, was concerning enough, but the Finn's slight movement to the right and Russell's subsequent spin into him saw his chances of points go up into smoke. Without getting into who was in the wrong, Russell certainly lost more, with two points for ninth place meaning "everything" to him, whereas a finish in that position would be regarded as a extreme disappointment for Bottas.

In any case, he wasn't able to continue after the huge contact, and was overtaken in the Drivers' Championship by both Norris and Leclerc. He is now 11 points behind Norris, and 28 behind his teammate Hamilton; his hopes of finally winning a Championship seem to disappearing already.

If you remember back to the aforementioned race in Turkey last year, Bottas heavily struggled there as well, spinning on multiple occasions, and finished in 14th place, over a lap down on Hamilton who took victory. It's become clear that the Finn struggles in wet conditions, and that's something he needs to correct if any hopes of a title charge are to materialise.

It was not a good weekend for the two 'back-up' drivers at Red Bull and Mercedes, and just like Perez, Bottas will need to bounce back in Portugal, and show why he deserves the seat at Mercedes next year, over the man who crashed into him today.

Constructor Loser - Williams

Saturday had all played perfectly into Williams' hands; Nicholas Latifi had qualified in a career best P14, and Russell was disappointed in his failure to make Q2, qualifying in 12th. It represented a huge step forward for the team who have brought up the rear for three successive years.

However, Latifi went wide at Acqua Minerale early on, losing a couple of places, and then just seconds later, he made contact with Nikita Mazepin when he re-entered the track, and collided into the wall, forcing him to retire from the race.

The Canadian looked set for an impressive finish, but it wasn't to be.

Whilst Latifi's crash was bad news for the team, Russell looked set for his first points with the team as he was running in P10 behind Bottas.

But, as mentioned earlier, the 2018 F2 winner's crash with Bottas ended his race, and Williams' chances of a first points finish since Robert Kubica in the 2019 German Grand Prix.

After a Saturday that gave them the platform to potentially score points, it all went wrong for the team, and with two of the race's four DNFs coming courtesy of Williams, they are our losing Constructors.

Next up... Portimao

We go to Portugal next, and if it can live up to the opening two races of 2021, then it'll be a cracker!

See you in two weeks!