F1 news LIVE: Christian Horner sends dig McLaren’s way after Max Verstappen victory

1. Oscar Piastri – 146 points

2. Lando Norris – 133 points

3. Max Verstappen – 124 points

4. George Russell – 99 points

5. Charles Leclerc – 61 points

6. Lewis Hamilton – 53 points

7. Kimi Antonelli – 48 points

8. Alex Albon – 40 points

9. Esteban Ocon – 14 points

10. Lance Stroll – 14 points

11. Carlos Sainz – 11 points

12. Yuki Tsunoda – 10 points

13. Isack Hadjar – 7 points

14. Pierre Gasly – 7 points

15. Nico Hulkenberg - 6 points

16. Ollie Bearman – 6 points

17. Liam Lawson – 0 points

18. Fernando Alonso – 0 points

19. Jack Doohan – 0 points

20. Gabriel Bortoleto – 0 points

Christian Horner praised Max Verstappen’s “win it or bin it” attitude towards racing after his first-lap overtake on Oscar Piastri led to an impressive victory at the Emilia Romagna GP.

Verstappen, starting second on the grid, capitalised on pole-sitter Piastri leaving a gap at the first braking zone at the start of the race.

The Dutchman, criticised for his racing on lap one at the last race in Miami, stormed ahead of the McLaren here and – despite two safety car interludes – looked assured out in front in sealing his second victory of the year.

Ahead of Ferrari’s home race in Imola, I spent a day in Maranello, the famous prancing horse emblem at every turn, dissecting the prestige of the Italian marque in contrast to the flaws of the present-day F1 team:

Read below:

Lando: “It was a long race, not easy to overtake. We did what we could, Max drove a good race – they were quick, probably a bit quicker.

“We had a battle between Oscar and myself, a bit tense – we’d love to be up fighting with Max but they were too quick.

"It was tricky, the virtual safety car was perfectly timed for [Max] Verstappen and Lando [Norris] and I used both my hard tyres at that point, it made the last restart tricky. I tried my best to hold on to second, I had nowhere near enough grip, so third it is.

“I tried my best, but I didn't have grip and it was inevitable that he [Norris] was going to get past, but I wasn't going to give up without a fight."

1. Max Verstappen

2. Lando Norris

3. Oscar Piastri

4. Lewis Hamilton

5. Alex Albon

6. Charles Leclerc

7. George Russell

8. Carlos Sainz

9. Isack Hadjar

10. Yuki Tsunoda

“I just braked too early, it was a good move by Max as well. Disappointing obviously, we made a few poor calls afterwards too - it’s one to review.

“We’ll look back at that one and see what we can do a bit better.”

On Norris overtake: “It was tricky, I tried my best to hang on, just didn’t have the grip, it was inevitable but I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.”

1. McLaren - 279

2. Mercedes - 147

3. Red Bull - 131

4. Ferrari - 114

5. Williams - 51

6. Haas - 20

7. Aston Martin - 14

8. Racing Bulls - 10

9. Alpine - 7

10. Sauber - 6

“Fair play to Max, today he was very fast.

“We tried a few things... deviating with the strategy which didn’t pay off today.

“We won the race in Saudi in corner one... today it was the opposite. Two McLarens on the podium, strong for the constructors and good points for both drivers.”

Charles Leclerc isn’t happy in his Ferrari.

A sixth placed finish at Imola, having started 11th on the grid represents a decent race but the Monegasque wants to be challenging for titles.

After the grand prix in Italy he was asked if he had any hopes of performing well at the next race in Monaco (his home one) and his reply was telling.

“No.”