BREAKING: Oscar Piastri winning streak broken as McLaren denied win at Imola GP

A masterful move on the opening lap paved the way for to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. A late safety car threatened to undo all his hard work but he had enough pace in the Red Bull to end the winning runs of Oscar Piastri and McLaren.

And for a while it looked like it was going to be a stroll. He had the pace to pull away from the McLarens with neither Piastri nor Lando Norris able to keep up. And a virtual safety car, called just after both his rivals had stopped, further increased his advantage.

But then the full safety car came out, threatening to undo all his hard work and presenting Norris and Piastri with the chance to snatch it away from the Dutchman. But they were in the wrong order – Piastri ahead of Norris on the older tyres – and by the time the Brit had got by Verstappen was already five seconds up the road.

So he took his second victory of the year while Norris in second was at least able to take a few points out of Piastri's championship lead. And the locals were kept happy by excellent recoveries from both Ferrari drivers.

finished fourth, the best result of his Ferrari career so far after the alternative strategy of starting on the hard tyres paid dividends. And though Charles Leclerc spent much of the afternoon complaining about his car, he managed to rise by five places to finish sixth with Alex Albon splitting the two Ferraris in his Williams.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Verstappen looked likely to be thwarted in his quest to get past pole-sitter Piastri at turn one, owing to the fantastic start made by Russell in third place. The Brit was swiftly alongside the and it looked as though the Dutchman would have to focus more on defending his current position than rising by one.

But why not do both jobs in one if you can? Piastri seemed unaware of the danger as his McLaren was blocking the of Russell, slowing him down. And that allowed Verstappen to swoop around the outside of both of them heading into the first chicane and emerge in the lead of the race.

And he made it stick. The DRS barrier was broken within the space of a couple of laps and Verstappen set about building a lead of a few seconds, until Piastri pitted to attempt the undercut on the Dutchman.

That presented Yuki Tsunoda with the opportunity to help his team-mate with the McLaren emerging from the pit lane on his gearbox. But he could not slow Piastri down for too long as, within two laps of engagement, the Aussie flew by.

He set about gaining places but, faced with traffic while Verstappen had free air in front of him, the gap between them continued to widen. And on medium tyres that were 20 laps old, the Dutchman was still lapping quicker than anyone else on track other than Lando Norris, who was matching his pace but nearly 10 seconds behind.

It took a while for Piastri to switch on the tyres but, once he did, the gap began to close. But then another thing played into Verstappen's hands – Esteban Ocon was told to stop his Haas and that triggered a virtual safety car which gave everyone the opportunity to make a cheap stop.

By the time the racing resumed, Verstappen led by almost 20 seconds from Norris while Piastri, who took the opportunity to pit again for fresh mediums, while his main rivals for the win were on the harder but slower compound, was 33 seconds adrift of the lead.

And he wasn't closing nearly quick enough. But when Kimi Antonelli had to pull over, this time triggering the appearance of the full safety car, the McLarens were brought right back into it. Piastri didn't have a new set of tyres to change to, but Norris and Verstappen did.

And that showed as, from the restart, the Red Bull immediately built a comfortable advantage again while Piastri seemed to be holding up Norris, who was on much newer tyres.

---

There will be more to follow on this breaking news story and will bring you the very latest updates, pictures and video as soon as possible.

Please on this developing story. Follow us on , , , , or visit homepage.