Max Verstappen took a commanding victory at Imola to begin to reel in Charles Leclerc's sizeable early championship lead.

The Ferrari driver spurned a podium position when pushing too hard behind the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and spinning into the barriers at Variante Alta, although he was able to recover to finish sixth.

But after the first sprint weekend of the season, GPFans brings you all the important stats and facts from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz has insisted there was "nothing I could have done differently" after being taken out of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix by Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen has insisted Charles Leclerc will know "painful" his late-race Imola spin was and he "doesn't need to hear it" from anyone else and Sebastian Vettel has conceded his eighth-place finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix felt "like a victory" for Aston Martin.

Charles Leclerc believes the spin that cost him a podium at Ferrari's home race at Imola "shouldn't have happened" and was born of greed.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has vowed to "protect" Lewis Hamilton after the seven-time F1 champion endured a wretched Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend.

Max Verstappen grabbed pole position at the end of a dramatic qualifying session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that had to be red-flagged on five occasions, Mercedes has detailed a list of updated aerodynamic tweaks ahead of this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton has confirmed he has joined a consortium of investors bidding to take over ownership of Chelsea Football Club.

Formula 1 will begin the first of three sprint weekends at Imola but what are the changes from last year that you should be aware of?

Carlos Sainz has signed an extension to his Ferrari contract ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and the inaugural Miami Grand Prix will go ahead as planned after a court denied a bid to stop the race from happening.

Max Verstappen has been backed to 'bounce back strong' at this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola following a disappointing start to his F1 title defence, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes F1 has "over-delivered" with its new era of regulations if the evidence from the first three grands prix is anything to go by and Charles Leclerc has become the second F1 driver to be robbed of a prized watch in the past nine months, according to reports in Italy.

Max Verstappen hopes to prolong his world championship this year, but the 2022 Formula 1 season is not off to a good start for the Dutchman. The Red Bull Racing driver is not the first to experience this however. In this special, we take a look at a number of drivers (because there are more) who started their title defense poorly as reigning world champions.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has warned any loss of freight could "wreak havoc" on F1 due to its tight schedule this season and Charles Leclerc has warned Ferrari must not “overdo” its preparations for its upcoming home race at Imola if it wants to win on Italian soil again for the first time since 2019.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has insisted the "picture is still very unclear" around allowances for the VW Group's entry into F1, Lando Norris has revealed his relief at shaking off his "empty" feeling of missing out on points after ending a tough start to the new F1 season and Alfa Romeo head of trackside engineering Xevi Pujolar has identified qualifying pace as the weakness of C42 despite agreeing the car is a 'good all-rounder'.