Foreign media about brilliant ‘thief’ Max Verstappen: ‘As George Clooney in the Ocean’s’ Trilogy’ | Sport

The conclusions after the GP of Emilia Romagna are unanimous across the border: Max Verstappen is completely back. “The catching up has begun,” says the German picture after Red Bull’s ‘Doppel-Sieg’ at the Imola circuit. ,,The Dutchman is relaxed first for teammate Perez.”

The fact that Charles Leclerc is a fool with his Ferrari in a home race and only finishes sixth after a big mistake, hits hard in Italy. “A nightmare,” writes La Gazzetta dello Sport, who sees things go wrong for the Frenchman at the start. Ferrari’s first real crash of the season. A very hard reality to accept for the 64,000 fans in Imola, who dreamed of a completely different GP of Emilia Romagna.”

The Italian sports newspaper bows deeply to Verstappen. ,,Hats off to the world champion, who also took home the extra point from the fastest lap. His weekend was sensational, just perfect.” La Gazetta† “Verstappen is the worthy winner of a GP he dominated from Friday.”

Also L’Equipe saw how Verstappen ruled. “Max Verstappen had a perfect weekend at Imola,” writes the French sports newspaper, which had expected more from Leclerc. ,,It was a weekend not to be missed and yet nothing went as planned for Ferrari on home soil, despite the unconditional support of his tifosi. On a track wetted by heavy rain, Charles Leclerc completely missed his start, allowing the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to grab the first two places before the Tamburello corner.”

According to L’Equipe Verstappen will confidently go to the US next month. ,,The Dutchman has closed the gap in the championship and is now 27 points behind Leclerc. A good operation for the reigning world champion before he crosses the Atlantic and discovers the brand new Miami route on May 8.”

If only willpower were enough, the seething mass of tifosi would certainly have propelled Charles Leclerc to victory at Imola. The Guardian† “But for all their hopes, they were powerless against the unstoppable force that Max Verstappen and Red Bull were.”

The English newspaper saw how seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton again played a supporting role. “For Hamilton and Mercedes, the race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari was also one to quickly forget,” he said. The Guardian†

Max Verstappen dominated Emilia Romagna’s grand prix to reinvigorate his title hopes when rival Charles Leclerc threw away third place with a costly mistake. BBC† “That that happened at Ferrari’s home race, in front of a crowd of passionate Italian tifosi, would have made things worse. Especially as Leclerc had stressed before the weekend not to “overdo things” with such high expectations at Imola. Verstappen was in complete control.”

marca rewards Verstappen with a 10. ,,Imola has been his from day one, with Friday’s pole position, Saturday’s win and Sunday’s punishment, from start to finish. The champion does not give up and records the second victory of the year.”

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez gets a 9, rival Leclerc has to make do with a 3 in the Spanish sports newspaper. But that’s always higher than the 0 die marca indicates Lewis Hamilton. ,,He is starting to say goodbye to the world title. Verstappen doubled it on lap 40…”

“Max Verstappen completed his big coup”, writes the also Spanish Mundo Deportivo† ,,There were very few who bet on him before the start of the weekend. Ferrari, with more downforce and a reliable car, arrived with Leclerc as the leader and favourite. Italian fans painted the stands red. There, on hostile land, Max Verstappen completed his great work.”

Mundo Deportivo compares the Dutchman with George Clooney. His victory in the lion’s den was one in the style of ‘the best thief in white gloves’. A stone’s throw from the Ferrari factory, he stole the ‘most precious jewel’. “Like it was George Clooney in the Ocean’s’ Trilogy. Max stole the joy of the ferraristas with a unique Grand Slam: he took the win, the fastest lap, led all laps, took pole position on Friday and also took the sprint race on Saturday. Historic.”