Why do Red Bull suddenly look beatable in F1?

For the first half of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Max Verstappen seemed to rediscover his unbeatable form. As had been the case so often in the past three years, he built a comfortable lead in the opening stint of the race and looked on course to maintain it to the finish.

But midway through the grand prix something changed and, for the second time in as many races, weaknesses in the Red Bull were exposed. While Verstappen was ultimately able to prevent McLaren’s Lando Norris from doubling down on his debut win in Miami two weeks ago, it was only by 0.725s at the chequered flag.

For the first time in over two years, the Verstappen/Red Bull combination no longer looks unbeatable in a straight fight. The pace of the upgraded McLaren — and potentially the Ferrari on a more favourable circuit layout — is now close enough to Red Bull to force Verstappen to push to the limits. In doing so, he is exposing hitherto unknown weaknesses in Red Bull’s package and, potentially, presenting opportunities for others to snatch victories in Formula One.

That shouldn’t be confused for a genuine title fight — Verstappen is still 48 points clear of his nearest competitor, Charles Leclerc, in the drivers’ standings — but it could result in more close finishes like the one in Imola, Italy, in the future.

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– Max Verstappen holds off Lando Norris to win by 0.7sec at Imola

How did Norris close down Verstappen at Imola?

Three different cars were fastest at three different points of the 63-lap Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris all showing race-winning potential at various stages. In a sport that has so often been dominated by one driver in recent years, it represented a refreshing level of competitiveness — even if none of those cars was fast enough to perform an overtake of the others around Imola’s relatively narrow track layout.

Throughout the first stint of the race, it was business as usual. Verstappen built a commanding eight-second lead over Norris ahead of his first pit stop, although not without pushing his Red Bull beyond the track’s limit on three occasions. That left him with no room for error from Lap 20 onwards as another transgression would have resulted in a five-second penalty, but at the midway point in the race it seemed he would have enough time in hand…