Max Verstappen WINS Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as Red Bull star fends off Lando Norris’ final charge to secure fifth victory of the season

Imola is a grand old track, but this Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was exciting as a tax return until a late, iridescent scare hinted at an exciting season to come.

Max Verstappen won it, but you shouldn’t tell anyone. What they need to know is that his friend Lando Norris was as hot as a dragon.

We came here to northern Italy hoping that McLaren could take the fight to them, that Norris’s first victory in Miami would represent a growing threat to the Dutch monopoly.

This is certainly the case today, as it is the team that best understands the principles of the technical regulations. Yes, the Red Bull in the hands of a maestro remains in front, but only just, by fractions of a second.

This proximity was not very obvious at first. Verstappen, starting on pole, was well clear, having pointed his cars aggressively towards the racing line and Norris, next to him on the front row.

Max Verstappen returned to victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

Verstappen celebrates after holding off a late charge from Lando Norris at Imola

The Red Bull star returns to winning ways after finishing second in Miami a fortnight ago

Verstappen cuts a relieved figure after celebrating with his Red Bull team on Sunday

The world champion maintained his advantage until the opening chicane – Tamburello, the now reconfigured spot where Ayrton Senna lost his life 30 years ago, and the die was cast. This probable fact was hammered into Norris: Verstappen’s lead at the end of the first lap stood at eight tenths, seemingly like a time bomb.

By the sixth lap, the gap was two seconds. On the 12th lap, three seconds. In round 20, six.

Verstappen’s only wobbles were minor at this point. He hit the strange curb too hard, once he was in the air. And he pushed his luck by exceeding the limits of the track – a habit that earned him a black and white caution flag. Other than that, no problem – not yet.

It seemed clear that this so far boring race would end with Norris condemned to finishing a miserable second, but that had nothing to do with how it went in 25C heat. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc came third – right where he started, a uniformity befitting the sleepy early fare.

But the event came alive at the moment of death. Could Lando Norris pull off a late heist? Could he overtake Verstappen in the final throes to breathe life back into a campaign that minutes earlier had seemed as dead as a dodo.

Six seconds later, with just a handful of laps remaining, the British star pressed and pressed his McLaren in pursuit of a car that carried Max the Machine to the stars. Norris swallowed up the road ahead of him until he was down to 1.5 seconds with five laps to go.

Lando Norris (background) pushed the Dutchman all the way in a thrilling finish

Verstappen’s panic crackled through his radio. Norris told his team he was doing everything in his power to make his top-performing tires, while actually slightly older, work to kill. Verstappen had no grip. He held on.

There are two laps left and the gap is one second. Then less than a second as the final 3.05 mile circuit awaited us. Finally, Verstappen was home. What a final and unexpected drama. The winning margin: 0.725sec. Great stuff. “One or two rounds would have been magnificent,” Norris said. “But that wasn’t the case.”

Oscar Piastri took fourth place in the other McLaren.

Mercedes? They’re still stuck in molasses. Lewis Hamilton finished sixth, behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. George Russell crossed the line seventh at the end of a weekend in which he struggled throughout.