On April 23, local time, the F1 Imola sprint race began to compete, which was the first sprint race of F1 this season. In the end, Verstappen achieved a key overtaking of Leclerc on the penultimate lap and successfully won the first place. Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu collided with Gasley on the first lap and had to choose to retire.
On lap 1 of the race, Zhou Guanyu collided with Gasley, and then the car was parked in the buffer zone, and the safety car was dispatched. After the start, Leclerc and Verstappen were in the top two. On lap 7 Sainz completed the overtaking of Alonso, rising to 7th place. Perez overtook Magnuson on the 8th lap on the straight. On lap 11 Ricardo overtook Magnussen to 5th and Perez overtook Norrie to move up to 3rd.
Leclerc and Verstappen have been in the top two of the race, and by lap 13 Leclerc's lead has reached 1.5 seconds, with Verstappen narrowing the gap to 0.7 seconds on lap 17. On lap 20 Verstappen surpassed Leclerc at Turn 2.
After the final 21 laps, Verstappen finished first in the first sprint of the season at 30:39.567, with eight points. Leclerc was narrowly placed in 2nd place, Perez was 3rd of all drivers and Sainz rushed from 10th to 4th. Places 5 to 8 are Norris, Ricardo, Bottas and Magnussen, with the top 8 all earning points.