Rain had occurred earlier in the day on the Sunday but it hadn't rained for a couple of hours when the racing was about to get underway and dry lines were even starting to show on the circuit.
The Start
The lights went out, and away they went with Verstappen this time getting a good start compared to his start in the sprint but it was Leclerc who had a poor start and already dropped behind Perez before Turn 1 with Norris even having a look for a move on the Ferrari. However it was a few places further back where the other Mclaren and Ferrari got a bit too close. Ricciardo went for a move on the inside of Sainz at turn 1 but clipped the rear tyre of the Ferrari sending the Spaniard into the Gravel.
Ricciardo joined him after he got hit from behind by Bottas but the Fin survived with no damage to the front of his car. Sainz was beached in the gravel trap for the second race in a row which meant the Safety Car was deployed. Ricciardo was able to carry on and did not need to change his front wing either but found himself at the back of the running cars.
This was not the only incident of lap 1 as Mick Schumacher also found himself facing the wrong way at the exit of turn 2 after qualifying a career best 10th the day before. The German lost the rear of his Haas on the exit of turn 2 and his rear tyre hit the side of Alonso’s car damaging the sidepod of his car. On lap 6, when Hamilton overtook Alonso, the dent in the sidepod flew off the car leaving a massive gaping hole in the side of his car resulting him to pull in the pits at the end of the lap to retire the car.
Hamilton's troubles
Lewis Hamilton finished the sprint in a disappointing P14 with teammate George Russell finishing P11 for the sprint on Saturday to decide the grid for Sunday's main race. Russell gained many positions at the start as a result of Ricciardo and Sainz colliding at turn 1/2 and found himself in P6. However, Hamilton was not so fortunate and only went up 2 positions after overtaking Ricciardo and Sainz who were both off the track.
Things got worse for Lewis on lap 19 as once he pitted for dry tyres, Alpine unsafely released their driver of Eseban Ocon into the path of Hamilton in the pit lane forcing the Brit to slow down to provent any further contact. He also struggled with tyre warm up and lost a few positions and found himself back in P14 and behind Pierre Gasly. Hamilton looked fustrated behind Gasly as DRS was still not enabled until finally on lap 34, DRS was enabled and it was expected Hamilton would fly past both Gasly and Albon in front but this was not the case. Hamilton was stuck behind Gasly from lap 22 until the end of the race on lap 63.
Leclerc's Disaster
Championship leader, Charles Leclerc, had been P3 for most of the race behind the 2 Red Bulls and in front of Lando Norris in P4. On lap 44, Leclerc questioned his team on pitting again in the race but his team responded "stay out until the end". Despite this, Leclerc pitted on lap 50 for fresh softs and came out behind Norris in P4. Leclerc's stop resulted in Perez pitting on lap 51 and Verstappen on lap 52 and Leclerc overtook Norris soon after his stop.
On lap 54, the worst possible thing happened to Leclerc as at the chicane, he misjudged the corner and bounced over the sausage kerb on the inside of the corner which unbalanced the Monagasques' Ferrari and spun him around into the barrier on the outside. Fortunetly, Leclerc was able to drive his Ferrari out of the barrier but needed to pit again which dropped him down to P9.
Chequered Flag
Max Verstappen crossed the line to win his second race of the season, Perez finished P2 to complete a Red Bull 1-2 and Norris finished on the podium again in Imola to achieve back-to-back podiums at the circuit.
Leclerc recovered to P6 and the 2 Aston Martin drivers achieved their first points of the season finishing P8 for Vettel and P10 for Stroll. Russell got an impressive P4 as well and is now the only driver to finish in the top 5 in every race this season.