How Ferrari's blunders gave Verstappen a lonely cruise at Imola

Ferrari was riding high coming into the first European round of the 2022 Formula 1 season, a first Imola victory since 2006 a distinct possibility. But the red cars ceded vital ground to Red Bull in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Max Verstappen romping to a comfortable win as Charles Leclerc spun away third place

Red Bull had been quicker than Ferrari every time it mattered heading into the grand prix at Imola last weekend. But it was only in front by a whisker. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz therefore had the capacity to make their rivals break a sweat in the fight for victory during the full-length Sunday race.

Instead, facing the pressure of a home event, the Maranello pair made critical errors and enabled Max Verstappen to escape to the spoils in dominant fashion. In truth, after only a few hundred metres the defending champion never looked under threat.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport's F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 after stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham's banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing is undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.