Max Verstappen snatches sprint race and pole at Auto Emilia Romagna

World champion edges out Charles Leclerc's Ferrari on final lap as Lewis Hamilton struggles again

Red Bull's Dutch driver Max Verstappen celebrates after winning the sprint race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari race track in Imola, Italy. AFP

Max Verstappen won Saturday’s Emilia Romagna Sprint race after dramatically passing Charles Leclerc on the penultimate lap at Imola.

Verstappen started from the front before losing the lead to Leclerc following a slow getaway.

But after a frenetic conclusion to the 21-lap dash, Verstappen ruined Ferrari’s homecoming party by fighting his way ahead of Leclerc at the Variante Tamburello to take the chequered flag and pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

"The start was very bad. I don't know exactly what happened but after that we had to stay calm," said Verstappen.

"Initially it looked like Charles had more pace but I think he ran out of tyres and I was able to close the gap. I know tomorrow will be different. Happy to have a clean sprint race in the end.

"I am happy about today but I know tomorrow - with other tyre compounds coming in - it will be different."

There was further misery for Lewis Hamilton after he started 13th and finished only 14th.

Sergio Perez took third ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with Lando Norris fifth for McLaren.

Leclerc is now 40 points clear of second-placed Sainz in the standings, with Hamilton 51 points back.

"We struggled with the tyres at the end so we need to analyse that for tomorrow and make sure we are ready," said Leclerc.

"The pace was good until then but we started to have some graining and lost it at the end."

With the full quota of points available for Sunday’s Grand Prix, Hamilton’s hopes of getting back into this year’s championship fight could be all-but over after just four rounds.

World champion Verstappen secured pole in Friday’s rain-hit qualifying, but the Dutchman was slow away from his marks and the in-form Leclerc took advantage.

The Monegasque, chasing Ferrari’s first drivers’ world title in 15 years, roared past Verstappen’s Red Bull before beating his man into the opening chicane – his move greeted by a chorus of cheers from those supporters dressed in red.

Further back, Hamilton’s getaway was tidy, but he was soon gobbled up by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and then the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

George Russell – in the other Mercedes – also fell back a place from 11th to 12th.

On the first lap, Pierre Gasly ran into the Alfa Romeo of rookie Zhou Guanyu. The Chinese driver ended up in the wall and the safety car was deployed to retrieve his stricken machine.

The race fired up again on lap four and Leclerc mastered the restart to leaving Verstappen in his wake.

Hamilton was attached to Stroll’s Aston Martin and finally made his way past on lap nine to move up to 14th, but the British driver failed to make any further ground, crossing the line an eye-watering 41.4 seconds behind Verstappen. Russell moved ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages to take 11th.

Hamilton and his Mercedes boss Toto Wolff were involved in a heated exchange after qualifying here on Friday evening. And the tension inside the Mercedes’ garage is unlikely to have eased after yet another deeply-unsatisfactory showing.

Up front Leclerc looked on course to take the victory, but Verstappen denied the Monegasque by moving into the lead at the start of lap 20 and finished 2.9 seconds ahead of the Ferrari driver.