Max Verstappen won the Emilia Romagna Grand
Prix to take the grand slam. The Dutchman, who started on pole, finished well
clear of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez on a day to forget for Lewis Hamilton.
It is the first Red Bull 1-2 finish since the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix.

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Perez’s ignominy was reinforced at the very
start of lap 41 when he was lapped by Verstappen. ‘Blue flags for Verstappen,’
he was told over the radio, words that resounded in his ear like a clap of
thunder.

Lewis Hamilton struggled all weekend and
ended up 13th, while his team-mate George Russell, who had to make a pass on
Kevin Magnussen’s Haas stick at the second attempt, finished a chastising
fourth.

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Charles Leclerc missed a chance to finish
third after he committed a silly mistake on lap 54 of 63, climbing the kerbs at
Variante Alta into the initial right-hander. He had to pit and came out ninth.
He finished sixth, having passed Magnussen, Aston Martin’s Vettel and
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. The Monegasque still holds a 27-point advantage over
his now hottest purser, Verstappen, with four of the season’s 23 races gone.

Hamilton is 58 points off the summit;
Russell is 37 adrift.

Verstappen made the perfect getaway in wet
conditions, quicker out of his box than Leclerc who shared the front row on the
atmospheric Imola track.

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Perez was also fast to go second and into
the perfect position to protect his Red Bull team-mate from the off. McLaren’s
Lando Norris rose well from fifth to third, where he finished very creditably.

Just a little further back a little early
drama unfolded with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo catching Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz,
who spun into the gravel and retired at Variante Tamburello. The safety car was
deployed for three laps as the track gradually dried.

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All the cars started on inters before
moving to slicks a third of the way through. Despite grey clouds, the weather
held.

There was little overtaking – so much for
the new regs and the dawn of nip-and-tuck racing we were promised.