Did we witness a good sprint race? Did that happen? Or was it a figment of our imagination? Was it some kind of fevered dream because we've been scoffing brie wheels in our pyjamas? Why are we keeping cheese in our pyjamas? None of this makes sense.
The sprint race might have been fun, but it was no consolation for our two biggest scoring drivers. Zhou Guanyu sprinted into oblivion and earned the first Sprint Drop points of the season, and Carlos Sainz's race lasted two corners, giving him the second Earliest Exit points in two races. Sainz was pitched off the track by Ricciardo, whose hobbled car gave him a bunch of Track Points too.
As for the constructors, Alfa Romeo topped the points alongside Ferrari, with Alpine in third place after, for the second time this season, we got to witness an Alpine car driving with a huge gaping hole in the side. Yikes. Wonder where the hole leads? Echo. Echo. ECHO.
Read on for all the Track Points in Imola. Let's just call it Imola, because it's quicker to type than Emilia Romagna.
TRACK POINTS IN IMOLA: DRIVERS
Finish: Ricciardo 8 | Schumacher 7 | Latifi 6 | Zhou 5 | Ocon 4 | Hamilton 3 | Gasly 2 | Albon 1
Retirement: Alonso 10 | Sainz 10
Earliest Exit: Sainz 5 | Second in two races
Biggest Drop: Ricciardo 5 | Dropped twelve places
Sprint Drop: Zhou 5 | Went from 14th to retirement
Raceday Special (Last on Grid): Latifi 5 (last) | Zhou 5 (pitlane)
Beige Flag: Leclerc 10 | Went to the seaside and had his watch nicked^
Beige Flag: Russell 10 | The car's porpoising is slowly breaking him^, the poor sausage
In summary:
|
Zhou |
15 |
Gasly |
2 |
|
Sainz |
15 |
Albon |
1 |
|
Ricciardo |
13 |
Bottas |
0 |
|
Latifi |
11 |
Magnussen |
0 |
|
Alonso |
10 |
Norris |
0 |
|
Leclerc |
10 |
Perez |
0 |
|
Russell |
10 |
Stroll |
0 |
|
Schumacher |
7 |
Tsunoda |
0 |
|
Ocon |
4 |
Verstappen |
0 |
|
Hamilton |
3 |
Vettel |
0 |
TRACK POINTS IN IMOLA: CONSTRUCTORS
Finish: McLaren 8 | Haas 7 | Williams 7 | Alfa Romeo 5 | Alpine 4 | Mercedes 3 | AlphaTauri 2
Retirement: Alpine 10 | Ferrari 10Sprint Drop: Alfa Romeo 5
Beige Flag: Aston Martin 10 | Congratulations AM, you officially have the heaviest car in F1^
Beige Flag: Mercedes 10
Beige Flag: Red Bull 10 | A remarkable reveal by Christian Horner that Merc and Red Bull's personnel battles saw them spend a million quid each^ in the high court – jeez, a Beige Flag for each of you
In summary:
|
Alfa Romeo |
15 |
Williams |
12 |
|
Ferrari |
15 |
Aston Martin |
10 |
|
Alpine |
14 |
Red Bull |
10 |
|
McLaren |
13 |
Haas |
7 |
|
Mercedes |
13 |
AlphaTauri |
2 |
MORE POINTS
Here is the Losers team commentary for Imola.
Here is the complete Losers team data for Imola.
And here's how it's affected the Standings.
Access your personal team page here.
WHAT'S NEXT?
It's Miami next on May 8th, a brand new circuit in which anything could happen. See the season calendar. We have a new Pitlane Punt especially for this grand prix: play the Miami 5-0 Punt now. We'll have another new Pitlane Punt in a few days: see our Pitlane Punt page for updates or keep an eye on our Twitter feed^.
Announcement time! On Mayday, which keen calendar followers will know is May 1st, we will have a Flash Fast Forecast Freebie. Any Fast Forecasts predicted on this date will have any losses waived – that means zero points lost if you get it wrong! Applies to UK time only on May 1st. Get those predictions scribbled on the back of a napkin now.
The Raceday Special Track Points element has changed. Instead of giving 5 points to the car last on the grid, these 5 points now go to the car with the slowest pit time of the race. We don't mean the DHL three-second-or-so fastest stop as shown on telly. We mean the entire pitlane usage, according to the FIA's official pit stop summary^. The Raceday Special just got trickier.
