Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen ended the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on top of the world. He stole the lead from title rival Lewis Hamilton off the line, ...

“We are not worthy of a world champion, we just need to fix the car.” Only time will tell how the sport’s reigning constructor’s champions will manage to stay afloat in the ever-competitive midfield of this racing series. “We are not good enough for a world champion,” he explained. Max Verstappen ended the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on top of the world. Hamilton soldiered on but could do no better than 13th by race’s end. However, Russell has outpaced Hamilton in every round since.

Hamilton's weekend in Imola was a microcosm of a troublesome season. On Saturday, after finishing 14th in the Sprint qualifying race, Hamilton was stoic about ...

“You see the bouncing on the main straight, I wonder how the two of them can even keep the car on the track at times,” said Wolff. “I think the fundamental issue which overshadows anything is our car is porpoising more than others. “I am out of the championship, for sure, there’s no question about that,” said Hamilton after the race. It was in stark contrast to George Russell’s excellent performance. It’s just going to take longer, it’s going to take a painful year. As did that car, we fixed it eventually and got back in the fight, or in the game. He finished fifth in the standings that year.

Toto Wolff said Mercedes has not produced a car worthy of Lewis Hamilton's status as a seven-time world champion after seeing him get lapped by Max ...

He had a car that was setup for the wet, and not for dry and he handled it. "We all feel it as a team. We saw from George what the car can do in free air but we are not good enough for a world champion, not worthy for a world champion.

The Brit was already handicapped by having to start from 14th but after gaining three places in the early round of the race, dropped back to his original ...

We just need to understand more and bring development to the car and fix the bouncing.' 'We are going to look at things for Miami, we can make a step in the understanding of the car. This was a terrible race.'

Being lapped by Max Verstappen at Imola is the moment that marks the end of Lewis Hamilton's time as a viable Formula 1 contender.

On Lap 41 of the scheduled 63, Verstappen’s Red Bull car came up behind Hamilton and prepared to lap his rival. “Sorry for what you have to drive today. Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari overwhelmed the field. One can point to failures in the Mercedes racing program, but the way last season ended may be every bit as much the culprit in Hamilton’s descent into mediocrity. Hamilton’s Mercedes was only marginally better in qualifying. That being said, it’s over for the British Formula 1 great.

Follow all the latest news and reaction after Max Verstappen's win over Charles Leclerc in Imola as Mercedes continue to suffer.

I guess fourth was still going to be an amazing position, amazing result for us and better than we were expecting coming into the race and into the weekend for sure.” Yes, as I said, the start wasn’t great; we will analyse why but it was still a long race ahead and for some reason, I was the unlucky guy that for someone’s mistake, I had to pay. “It’s tough, I’m not happy, and it’s tough to go through it, especially in a home race like this with all the tifosi, getting the support from them, wanting to do a good race for them. From where we were in race one to now scoring a podium, they all deserve it, so top job to the team. “I think that is part of our job, and it’s part of their job trying to drive to the limit. But, because we believed that there was no opportunity for us to attack and overtake Perez with those tyres any more, we did the pitstop. “I think with this year’s cars, obviously, the cars on the kerbs are a lot more stiffer and somehow, if you make a small mistake, you’re paying for it quite a lot. All but one of the tracks scheduled to host a grand prix in 2022 have done so far before. Meanwhile, Hamilton has ruled himself out of the title race, with the gap now 31 points to Verstappen in second and 58 points behind leader Leclerc. Both Max and Checo [Perez] have driven brilliantly this weekend and that one-two finish, all credit to the team. And the Belgian-Dutch driver has taken aim at Mercedes, insisting that it meant little to lap his 2021 title rival after their issues all season. Sergio Perez finished second to seal a Red Bull one-two, but only after Leclerc made a late pit stop for soft tyres in an attempt to catch him.

While Jeddah proved disastrous for Lewis Hamilton, at least he was able to score a point. The same can't be said for Sunday's Formula 1 race in Imola.

And let’s not forget the fact that Russell finished Sunday’s race in fourth place, nine positions ahead of Hamilton, to score 12 points for team. But even then, he had started the race on the front row. Even then, he had qualified in fifth. Fortunately, there was one point awarded for his efforts in the race after he had qualified in a dreadful 16th. Hamilton also failed to score any points in the sprint qualifying race, so he ended up leaving the weekend with zero points. But that only happened after a mistake on a late standing restart, when he appeared poised to take the lead from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.