Lewis Hamilton had a weekend to forget at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, but for rivals Red Bull, it turned out to be one to savour.
Hamilton had one of the worst races of his Formula 1 career as he finished 13th, and his 2021 title rivals found some enjoyment in his misfortune.
Red Bull went on to collect maximum points in Sunday’s feature race, with reigning world champion Max Verstappen finishing ahead of teammate Sergio Perez.
It was a superb weekend for the Milton Keynes-based team, who saw their main title rivals, Ferrari, end up with both cars off the track, and championship leader Charles Leclerc could only climb back to sixth.
The title looked like it may be heading back to Italy for the first time since 2007 thanks to Leclerc’s rapid start and Verstappen’s two reliability-inforced retirements, but things have quickly changed.
And there was even more joy to be had in Christian Horner’s Red Bull garage, with last year’s title rival, Hamilton, humiliatingly lapped by Verstappen.
The two battled it out last season in one of the sport’s most astonishing title fights, but now the Mercedes is nowhere near the front-running cars.
This year’s aerodynamic rule changes have left Hamilton well off the pace, in a race where he couldn’t even get past Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri, the sister car to Red Bull’s challenger.
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The Brit’s agonising lack of pace was highlighted when Verstappen lapped him late on with a number of high-profile names at Red Bull relishing the schadenfreude.
The world champion Dutchman’s father Jos, was particularly pleased to see the easy move, especially after the intensity of last season’s bout.
“Honestly, I did enjoy seeing Max lap Hamilton, after everything that happened last year” he wrote on verstappen.com.
“Hamilton really had a tough time, whereas his teammate George Russell seemed to be more balanced. It’s not often you have the opportunity to lap a Mercedes.”
There were rumours of a retirement for 37-year-old Hamilton at the end of 2021, and when Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was asked about what his opponent was thinking, he couldn’t help but troll him.
“He was lapped by us so maybe he should have stopped last year, he is thinking maybe,” Marko said.
Verstappen himself was also asked about the lapping, but his reply was slightly more measured than those in his team.
“They have been slow all year so for me it’s not anything exciting, it just happens,” he said.
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Source: TalkSport.com Motorsport