Watch: Max Verstappen's breathtaking move on Oscar Piastri to take the lead of the F1 Imola GP

Max Verstappen was snubbed off pole position by Oscar Piastri yesterday, but the Dutchman reverted this after pulling a magnificent move at turn 1 at the race start. The McLaren driver initially had the better race start, but the Red Bull driver pulled a move outside of the papaya car at the turn 1-2 section.

After winning his first race of the season in Japan, Verstappen has remained far away from winning another race. While he was able to put the Red Bull RB21 on pole position at the Miami Grand Prix, the 27-year-old was unable to contain the papaya driver behind and finished the race in P4.

A similar situation was seemingly being put together as Max Verstappen was putting in stellar lap times during the qualifying session. However, the championship leader put in a bolstering lap and bagged his third pole position of the year.

Despite being snubbed by his McLaren rival, the reigning world champion came back at him in the run down to turn 1. Verstappen pulled off a breathtaking move on the outside of Oscar Piastri and took over the race lead, leaving the F1 realm commending his bravery for making a bold overtake:

While the 27-year-old took over the lead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, he has been troubled with the Pirelli rubber so far this weekend.

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Max Verstappen would want to stay off the soft tires during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Max Verstappen at the F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna - Source: Getty

At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Pirelli brought in the C6 tire, which was even a step softer than the tires teams had been previously exposed to. This made them a bit of a gamble as the softer compound meant higher grip but also higher degradation.

With the temperatures being quite warm in Imola, some teams experimented with trying out the Medium tires, or the C5, during qualifying. This appeared as the only solution, but Verstappen was strangled with the soft tires by then, who later complained about them in his post-qualifying interview (PlanetF1):

"It’s the first time with the C6 as well. So I think no one is really on top of it. But it’s clear that, for a track like this, it’s really on the limit, or already a bit over the limit."

With Max Verstappen's dislike of the C6 tire, there is a high probability that he would not use the tire during the race. However, he might have to jump on the softer boots if there is a late Safety Car, which the race in Imola is known to present quite often.

On the other hand, as it stands on lap 20, Verstappen leads the race with Lando Norris in P2, as Oscar Piastri is on a different strategy than his on-track rivals.