The English racer was overtaken by Verstappen at the beginning of the race but seemed comfortable at second place until the crash.
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After winning the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, defending champion Lewis Hamilton slumped to a second-place finish on a wet Imola track at a thrilling Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The race was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started at third and is also Hamilton’s closest challenger to the title. The Englishman did exquisitely well after being involved in an unfortunate incident that saw him pushed back to ninth at one point. Verstappen won by 22 seconds and it was the 11th win of his career. He led most of the race. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished third, 23.702 seconds behind Verstappen.
Congratulations to Max – he did a fantastic job today. Also to Lando – what an awesome job,” Hamilton said after the race. “On my side it was not the greatest of days – first time I made a mistake in a long time, but I’m grateful to have been able to bring the car home today”
Hamilton’s second-place finish is not one Mercedes would be disheartened by. The English racer was overtaken by Verstappen at the beginning of the race but seemed comfortable at the second place until the wet track caused a serious incident.
He skidded off track onto the gravel and hit a wall just before the halfway point of the race on lap 31. By the time he returned to the track, he had fallen to the ninth position. He did, however, manage to get himself a second-place finish but needed all his skills and wits about him to do that.
That, however, was not the only crash the race witnessed. Valtteri Bottas and George Russell were involved in a crash that saw the race being red-flagged on lap 34 after debris from their cars scattered across the track. The incident will be investigated after the race.
Verstappen’s win will come as a massive boost to him and Red Bull in a season where Hamilton is still considered as the favourite to win the season and set a new world record of eight world championship wins. Hamilton and Mercedes will look to bounce back in the next race and restore his dominance at the top of the pack.
