How Verstappen Fended Off McLaren At The Imola Grand Prix

It’s easy to pin Max Verstappen’s victory on his first lap heroics. That sweeping move around championship leader Oscar Piastri into Tamburello was textbook Verstappen. Opportunistic and clinical. But the win wasn’t sealed there. It simply was a starting point. The rest was about managing everything McLaren threw at him. His RB21 seemed to have just a sliver more in hand, just enough to keep the papaya cars at arm’s length. He didn’t disappear up the road; he didn’t need to.