Max Verstappen wins Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after Hamilton blunder

World champion recovers from slide to finish second
Lando Norris comes third at Imola for McLaren

Max Verstappen won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in an incident-packed race at Imola, where Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of victory fell to pieces with a highly uncharacteristic error. In tricky wet and then drying conditions Verstappen delivered a masterclass of control while in stark contrast the world champion crashed out, though he was then able to deliver an exemplary recovery to come back to second place. Lando Norris was superb in taking third for McLaren, while Charles Leclerc was in fourth for Ferrari with his teammate Carlos Sainz fifth.

Hamilton had started from pole at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari and although he lost the lead to Verstappen at turn one, the pair were locked in a mighty struggle from then on to the mid-point of the race, when an unlikely unforced error put Hamilton off at the Tosa corner. It was a moment of exceptionally rare weakness on behalf of the world champion. He came back to fight on but the race belonged to the Dutchman, who had not put a foot wrong. Hamilton still leads the world championship by one point from Verstappen, by dint of having taken the fastest lap in this race.