Imola GP: Red Bull overtakes Mercedes for P2 in the constructors’ championship following double podium in the sprint

Imola GP: Red Bull overtakes Mercedes for P2 in the constructors’ championship following double podium in the sprint

Red Bull drivers- Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez

Red Bull has finally moved past Mercedes this season as it collected a total of 14 points in the first sprint race of the season held on Saturday, also serving as the grid decider for the Imola GP on Sunday. The sprint race winner Max Verstappen won 8 points, two more than his teammate from Mexico, Sergio Perez, who finished third.

With the help of these points, Red Bull is now four points clear of Mercedes, who stands P3 in the constructors’ championship with 65 points. The German constructor based in Brackley won no points as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished P11 and P14, respectively, way out of the points zone for the sprint race.


Not only did Mercedes as a constructor lose places, but both of its drivers also lost places in the drivers’ championship. Carlos Sainz overtook George Russell for second by a single point, and Max Verstappen got ahead of Lewis Hamilton by five points, and both the overtakers are likely to increase their lead and push the Mercedes drivers further down on the leaderboard.

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Competition between Red Bull and Mercedes in this season so far

Mercedes
Mercedes and Red Bull

Red Bull would have had an edge over Mercedes since the season began and could’ve been way ahead of the Silver Arrows had it not been suffering from the reliability issues. These issues have gifted Mercedes two podiums this season, one to each of its drivers.
Despite Red Bull overtaking just after the sprint, their main competitor is said to be Ferrari and not Mercedes. This goes on to show how their rivalry from last year has cooled down.

The Silver Arrows have been no match for the Bulls. And with porpoising still far from over for them, it seems that Christian Horner and the team won’t be seeing them from the front of the grid.

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