The Kaotis Emilia Romagna GP Champion, Verstappen: Very Challenging, Especially At The Beginning

Max Verstappen (Twitter @ Max33Verstappen)

JAKARTA - Red Bull team rider Max Verstappen calmly won the hot Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, while Lewis Hamilton rarely made mistakes that caused him to settle for being runner-up.

Verstappen stole the race leader from pole sitter Hamilton at the first corner of the Imola Circuit, Italy, as a provision for his first win this season to finish first with a margin of exactly 22 seconds from the seven-time world champion, according to the official F1 page.

Lando Norris in a McLaren car completed the podium after impressing and finishing P3 in front of the Ferrari duo, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

After the early rain, the second race of the 2021 season was temporarily suspended following an accident involving Williams racer George Russell and Valtteri Bottas from the Mercedes team.

Russell and Bottas bumped into each other as they drove nearly 300kph to fight for the position to the first chicane, resulting in an inevitable collision that caused pieces of their car to splatter on the track.

The Safety Car was issued following the incident before the red flag was raised on lap 34.

Lewis Hamilton also lost control of his car while chasing race leader Max Verstappen, damaging the front wing of his car when he hit the guardrail and lost his position to the P9.

The incident happened before Bottas and Russell's accident, who upset each other. Both riders survived the crash unscathed and returned to the pits and the race had to restart.

"It was really challenging out there, especially at the start," said Verstappen after the race.

"I think I managed everything well, even though there were small mistakes on my restart. It's a long season, you have to stay calm."

The heavy rain that flushed before the start created extremely difficult track conditions with half the track flooded and the other half dry, forcing the riders to start the race on wet tires.

Meanwhile, Hamilton was still amazed by the mistakes he made on track that day.

"Congratulations to Max and Lando. For me, this is the first time I have made a mistake in a long time. I am very grateful to be here, it is very difficult to go again. I had a very pleasant fight with everyone," said Hamilton.

A flawless drive from Max! 👌 # ImolaGP 🇮🇹 # F1 pic.twitter.com/ZFnjOri5NA

- Formula 1 (@ F1) April 18, 2021

Verstappen also reversed the results in the opening race in Bahrain three weeks ago when he rose to the top of the podium and Hamilton had to settle for P3.

Norris, joined the two seniors for a second podium finish, having finished in Austria last season.

Securing one point after scoring the fastest lap, Hamilton remains at the top of the standings by one point ahead of Verstappen before heading to the third series in Portugal on 2 May.

Norris teammate Daniel Ricciardo took home the points in P6, with Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon completing the top ten and contributing points to Aston Martin, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Alpine.