Emilia Romagna recap: Norris closes the gap as cracks emerge in Verstappen's campaign

Lando Norris picked up the pace last weekend in Imola, as the McLaren driver clocked up his fourth podium of the season following his debut win in Miami. While Verstappen returned to the top, adding another lights to flag victory to his roster of wins, cracks in the Red Bull outfit started to show on track, with the Dutchman's lead dwindling. As for Ferrari, the home race heroes failed to impress the fans with their biggest upgrade yet only landing Leclerc third overall. Here's all the highlights and what we learned from the race in Italy.

Verstappen on top but cracks starting to show on track for Red Bull

Despite Verstappen's dominance this season, the Dutchman's lead on one of his closest rivals, Lando Norris was reduced to just seven-tenths of a second in Imola.
Tyre trouble plagued the reigning champion's race, with Verstappen struggling to get the hard compound in the right operating window, leading to a lack of grip that he says nearly saw him crash at the Tosa hairpin.
"The tyres just fell out of the operating window and it was just like driving on ice, really snappy," he said after the race. "At Turn 7, I almost ended up in the grandstands."

When reminded over the radio of where he was losing time during the race, Verstappen simply replied, "yeah, my tyres don't work, mate." So far this season, we've seldom seen the reigning champ come under pressure but this was a rare glimpse at Verstappen struggling to maintain his lead. Could all that be about to change as the season hits its stride in Europe?

Lando closes on Verstappen and ups the pace for a second consecutive podium

Following Lando Norris' epic debut victory in Miami, the Bristol-born driver landed another podium in Imola last weekend after a heroic drive saw him challenge Verstappen's dominance. The British driver is in the form of his life, closing the gap between him and Verstappen to just 0.725s.

This is Norris' third consecutive podium in Imola and 17th of his career, while his second place finish was McLaren’s best at the Italian circuit since Kimi Raikkonen took second in 2003. Norris also won Driver of the Day for the third race on the trot. He now sits fourth in the drivers' standings, just six points behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

Although delighted to be the only driver that's successfully challenged Verstappen's dominance on track so far this season, Norris was cautious to overpromise on McLaren's chances in races to come.
"I think we're still getting there - I'm not confident enough to say we're there, we're fighting and we're matching them 100 percent," he admitted after the race.

"Max and Red Bull are still that level above but we're closer than we ever have been and I'm more confident - the car's performing at its best, so we've made a lot of progress and the team are doing an excellent job."

Ferrari upgrades fail to impress

Despite pulling out its first major upgrade of 2024, Ferrari failed to impress the mighty Tifosi after Charles Leclerc finished third behind Red Bull and McLaren.

Ferrari fans had hoped the upgrades would edge the team closer to its main Red Bull rival but instead, Leclerc pulled in third behind McLaren's Lando Norris, seven seconds adrift of race leader Verstappen.

"I mean, it's always very special to be on the podium here in Imola," said Leclerc after sealing Ferrari's first podium at Imola since Michael Schumacher's win back in 2006.

"However, obviously, I'm never satisfied with a P3. You always want to be on the top step.

"Considering everything, I think we mostly lost what could have been yesterday in qualifying. And this we will analyse."

Leclerc finished the race in the same position he started, while his teammate Carlos Sainz dropped one place to finish the race in fifth.
 

Rough ride for Perez

It's always tough being the reigning World Champion’s teammate but for Red Bull's second driver Sergio Perez, the 2024 Imola Grand Prix will be one to forget.

Despite team principal Christian Horner labelling Perez' performance "just a blip," the Mexican driver had a difficult time in Imola with a crash in Free Practice 3 and an off-track moment during the race at Rivazza, which resulted in damage to his car's floor. Despite holding onto third in the standings with 107 points, Perez sits 54 points behind his teammate Verstappen.

With his Red Bull future still in question, Perez will need to work hard to convince Horner and the Red Bull outfit that he's worthy of a seat for 2025.

Sebastian Vettel celebrated 30 years since Senna

On the 30-year anniversary of Senna's fatal accident at Imola, Sebastian Vettel drove a tribute lap in the iconic 1993 McLaren MP4/8, which he owns, to honour both the Brazilian driver and Austrian Roland Ratzenberger who was killed on the same race weekend.

After the death of Ratzenberger, Senna had planned to fly the Austrian flag from his car on the cooldown lap, before he was then killed during the race.
Waving both the Brazilian and Austrian flags during the run, Vettel said it was a way to "finish the job" that Senna had in mind.

"It felt very special when I got the flag out and very special when I got both of them out. It was a very special and very meaningful weekend for me," said four-time World Champion Vettel.