Lewis Hamilton lapped and finishes 13th as Max Verstappen claims Imola victory

Max Verstappen won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton finished 13th and was lapped on a desperate day for the seven-time world champion.

Verstappen dominated in the wet-dry race at Imola to claim his second win of the season, with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez second and Lando Norris promoted to third after championship leader Charles Leclerc spun and dropped to sixth.

Hamilton, the sport's most decorated driver, endured possibly the worst afternoon of his 16-season Formula One career.

The 37-year-old started 14th and finished only one place better off as George Russell progressed from 11th to fourth in the other Mercedes – holding off Valtteri Bottas, the man he replaced at the Silver Arrows, in the closing stages.

“Sorry for what you had to drive today," Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Hamilton afterwards. "I know it was undriveable. This was a terrible race.”

He later added: "For Lewis, really bad. We are not good enough for a world champion and we just need to fix the car.

"I think we are going to look at things for Miami, the understanding of the car. We just really need to understand more and creep up."

Verstappen’s win and Leclerc’s costly mistake breathed new life into this season’s championship battle, taking the Dutchman to second in the standings, 27 points adrift of his Ferrari rival.

Red Bull P1