Hamilton leads Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the championship by eight points after three races. Verstappen lost the lead in the first race in Bahrain when Mercedes’ strategists made Hamilton’s first pit stop earlier to jump him ahead. And Verstappen had to hand the win to Hamilton after catching him and passing him late in the race because he had exceeded track limits in making the overtaking move. Verstappen then lost pole at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after an error on his fastest qualifying lap. In the race, Hamilton was lucky to be able to recover from going off track and damaging his car. He then had a slide out of the last corner shortly before Hamilton passed him for second place, before the Briton went on to pass Bottas for the lead and win. And Verstappen lost the point for fastest lap after exceeding track limits again. Hamilton said: “Definitely the first test didn’t look great and the first race we were still up there but you could see the deficit to the Red Bulls. Verstappen said: “I always try to get the best possible results out of it.

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