Max Verstappen wins incident packed Emilia Romagna GP and LAPS 13th placed Lewis Hamilton as Norris snatches podium spot

MAX VERSTAPPEN reignited his F1 title defence with a routine win in Imola while championship leader Charles Leclerc spun off late on.

But it was another horror show for Lewis Hamilton, who had yet another forgettable race, and came home in 13th place.

It means that Leclerc’s lead in the championship is sliced to 27 points ahead of Verstappen as Ferrari suffered a double blow.

First, Carlos Sainz was sent crashing out on lap one after colliding with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.

And then Leclerc, who looked nailed on for a second-place finish, spun off after hitting the kerb at the chicane when he was pushing too hard to catch the Dutchman.

While he was able to make it back to the pits, another stop to check for damage resulted in him coming home in sixth place.

Verstappen, who started on pole, held his nerve in drying conditions as he made up for the two DNF’s he suffered in Bahrain and Australia.

He also won the Saturday sprint race and won a bonus point for setting the fastest lap, earning a total of 34 points from the weekend.

He said: “We were on it and it was looking like a strong weekend and as a team we did everything very well.

“Judging the conditions and knowing when to swap tyres, and judging the pace, everything was well managed.”

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However, a miserable weekend for Hamilton was compounded as he saw team-mate George Russell finish in fourth place.

While there was also an unexpected podium for Lando Norris, who was third in his McLaren behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

Norris said: “It was an amazing race. The team deserved it from where we were at race one to scoring a podium is incredible.

“It is hard work. A lot of time and effort is being put in and we have been able to capitalise on these conditions, so a mixture of hard work and these conditions and it pays off.”