Leclerc took the lead at the start when pole-starter Verstappen suffered a terrible getaway.
But reigning champion Verstappen came back at him in the closing stages, and took the lead with two laps to go to grab the official mantle of pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint results
How the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint unfolded
Making a slow start from pole, Verstappen was easily outdragged off the line by Leclerc, with Norris third and Kevin Magnussen (Haas) – running on medium tyres – holding up the pack and getting a black and white flag for weaving on the straights.
On the opening lap, Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou crashed out after contact with Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri at Piratella, which brought out the safety car.
Leclerc led Verstappen and Norris at the restart on Lap 5. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who crashed out of qualifying, rose to seventh by passing the Alpine of Fernando Alonso on Lap 7.
Leclerc stayed out of DRS range of Verstappen by pulling out a 1.5s lead. Behind them, Sergio Perez DRS-ed his way past Magnussen for fourth on Lap 8 and Norris for third on Lap 11, while Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren and Sainz also passed Magnussen. Sainz then wrested fifth from Ricciardo on Lap 14 and fourth from Norris on Lap 19.
Going into the final five laps, Verstappen got into Leclerc’s DRS range as the Ferrari began get encounter some tyre graining. Verstappen grabbed victory on the penultimate lap, DRS-ing past Leclerc on the run to the Tamburello chicane, and then pulling aeway to win by almost 3s.
Perez finished third ahead of Sainz, Norris and Ricciardo. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas passed Alonso and Magnussen to take seventh, with the second Haas of Mick Schumacher rounding out the top 10.
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